
Glass. 



Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 



SUPPLEMENTED BY 



The True Theory of the Mississippi River. 



BY 

JAMES M. SEA: 

"17 



-4A+ 



CINCINNATI: 

Printed for the author by Robert Clarke & Co. 
1893. 






Copyright, 1893, by James M. Searles. 



PREFACE. 



Should the Life and Times be read by any 
of my civil engineering acquaintances, I trust 
that they may wish, and hope for me, pleasant 
and profitable success in determining, for my 
chief (Mr. Sylvanus Miller), a good location ol 
the Ferro Carril del Norte, in Guatemala — for 
which country I propose embarking before this 
little book shall be given to the public. 

The true theory of the Mississippi river is 
Mr. Charles Ellet's ; and my sole purpose in 
making such liberal extracts from his great 
work, is to call the attention of the United 
States Congress to it in its entirety, that they 
may be convinced that the Mississippi river 
problem can be best, most economically, and 
permanently solved, by outlets, levees, and res- 
ervoirs. James M. Searles. 

Vicksburg, Miss., April 22, 1893. 



ERRATA. 



Page 40, line 16, read "bench-mark" for "bench- 
work." 

Page 41, line 15, read "too" for "to." 

Page 83, line 5 from bottom of page, "through" for 
"thoughtful." 

Page 82, line 5 from top of page, "Tate Springs" for 
"Late Springs." 

Page 92, line 16, read "Benyuard" for " Benguard." 



LIFE AND TIMES 



OF A 



CIVIL ENGINEER 



I propose, in writing of the life and times of 
a civil engineer, not to attempt instruction in 
a science which is cosmical in its character 
and extent, and, therefore, I confess, beyond 
my ability ; and totally incomprehensible, I 
verily believe, to the large majority of those 
who add to their names the two letters C. E.; 
but, to speak of my experiences as they may 
occur to me, and thereby, perhaps, be instru- 
mental in guiding my professional brethren 
amid the rocks and shoals which are to be met 
in the current life of real practical engineer- 
ing. The profession comprehends so much 
that hesitancy should govern many who pro- 
pose to adopt it. The precaution is stated, 
because, not alone that mathematical educa- 
tion and cultivation are necessary, but that the 
ability to practically effect or illustrate the 
great truths of engineering is essential. 

It may seem a strange and curious circum- 
stance that, at this time, it should be declared 
that a science, founded on mathematics, and 



4 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

practically demonstrated by the greatest and 
grandest physical achievements of all ages, 
should be, at this epoch, very frequently di- 
rected — so far as money and adventitious cir- 
cumstances can and do, direct — by those who 
have only entered on the threshold of the en- 
tered apprentice degree. But so it is. He 
who is least acquainted with the fundamental 
principles of geometry, to say nothing of nat- 
ural philosophy, therefore totally uninformed 
or incapable of practically demonstrating the 
great truths of those sciences, is the one se- 
lected, by the very circumstances as indicated, 
to govern a staff to whose judgment and ef- 
forts, if the plan and conduct of the battle 
were left, success would always respond. To 
give more pertinency to the thought intended 
to be expressed, the grand results are not to 
be denied, but the credit for their accomplish- 
ment is generally appropriated by those who 
have been negative factors in the working-out 
process. 

Occasion will be taken, in the course ol 
these pages, to particularize some of the re- 
sults of the circumstances alluded to ; and 
such, it may be said, will continue as results 
so long as arrogance can blind the eyes of 
capital. 

To forestall abrupt criticism, it should be 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 5 

mentioned that the immediate foregoing state- 
ment is made to set forth and illustrate the 
fact that the majority of practical civil engi- 
neers are modest in their pretensions. 

Having done with prefatory remarks, I will 
begin the Life and Times by. announcing that 
I was born, not of humble, but illustrious par- 
entage, in that it was honest and always spoke 
the truth. 

My schooling as a civil engineer was begun 
at " Old Brimstone Castle," in the town of 
Alexandria, Virginia, situated on the right 
bank of the Potomac river, about seven miles 
southward Washington City. 

Within the walls of that old institute, and, I 
may add, venerable, inasmuch as it was pre- 
sided over and conducted by Benjamin Hallo- 
well — than whom none was more able to teach 
the truths of a great and noble philosophy — I 
was taught the mathematics which have served 
me as an engineer. 

The associations of the times and place are 
to me of the most pleasant recollections of 
early days, and should these pages be read by 
any of the classes of 1 853—54, I trust they too 
may be gratefully reminiscent of the times 
when all was indeed " quiet along the Po- 
tomac." 



6 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

I can recall just now but few of the names 
of those who composed the classes of thirty 
odd years ago. First in order of recollection, 
because of our close and reciprocal friendship, 
is Bailey Peyton, Jr. He was the eldest son 
of the Hon. Bailey Peyton, of Tennessee, who 
represented that state in congress, in times 
when the office sought the man, and public of- 
fice was regarded as a public trust, and the 
records of those days bear testimony to his 
ability and patriotism. The son gave every 
evidence of that precocity which sometimes 
distinguishes uncommon genius. He was cut 
off, in budding manhood, at the battle of Mill 
Springs, sharing the lamentable fate of the 
gallant Zolicoffer. 

There were, also, Edelin, of Washington 
City ; Buchanan, of Maryland ; Martin, of New 
York, and others, bright and noble fellows, all 
of whom, I trust, have journeyed pleasantly 
up the hill of life, and are still achieving, still 
pursuing, those things which will make them 
happy here and happier hereafter. 

Before completing the entire curriculum of 
the Hallowell Institute, I secured, through a 
recommendatory letter of the then Secretary 
of War, a position as aid on the United States 
Cost Survey. 

This work was conducted under the super- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 7 

intendency of Alexander Dallas Bache, and 
certainly no one could have been more em- 
inently fitted for so high and responsible a po- 
sition; He was not only a mathematician, 
capable of comprehending and applying all 
those geodetic principles which were demanded 
by the survey, and as contemplated by the act 
of congress authorizing the work, but he added 
to this accomplishment an administrative ability 
which has never been equaled, if, indeed, ap- 
proached, by any of his successors. It was 
the writer's good fortune to be personally as- 
sociated with Prof. Bache, during two summer 
seasons, in the State of Maine, while the work 
of primary triangulation was being carried on 
in that district. The superintendent's princi- 
pal assistants were Geo. W. Dean and 
Hilgard. 

My duties consisted in recording and com- 
puting the trigonometrical observations as 
made by Dean. Hilgard, who was engaged 
in the determination of the latitude and longi- 
tude of the trigonometrical points, was likewise 
assisted by my tent mate, Robert J. Brecken- 
ridge. 

I had also to make, in addition to the duties 
enumerated, meteorological observations three 
times per day. 

It was during this summer work that the su- 



8 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

perintendent prepared his annual reports, being 
assisted by a large clerical force, of whom I 
well remember Hoe, Cooper, Hugh McHenry, 
and Hayden, and my old friend Col. McDon- 
ald, the "Atificer." He would never consent 
to be called the carpenter. 

During my probationary experience in this 
particular class of work, the party occupied 
Mounts Sebattis, Blue, and Ragged as observ- 
ing points. The heliotropers — or signal men — 
were located at various other stations, such as 
Mounts Washington, Pleasant, Kearsage, Har- 
ris, Cape Small, Isle au Haut, Mt. Desert, and 
Katahdin. 

It was on our first visit to the State of Maine 
that I was sent, in company with Hayden, 
ahead of the party, to look out a convenient 
camping-ground about Mt. Blue. 

Arriving at the little village of Phillips, on 
Sandy river— every thing in the shape of a 
stream in this country is dignified with the 
name of river — the Sandy was about twenty 
feet wide between top banks — we put up at 
the hotel of the place, and found supper ready 
some time before sun-down. 

The hour of the evening meal was an un- 
usual one to us, but we were glad of its early 
coming, as we had appetites that had been 
hugely built up by a long and jolting stage- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 9 

coach travel ; so that it did not require the 
ringing of a second bell to persuade us to the 
eating-room. Being seated, I was surprised to 
find the table almost covered with sweetmeats 
— jellies, preserves, cakes, and pies. There 
was a total absence of meat. This display 
was not, however, disconcerting ; but when the 
landlady asked me if I would take "long or 
short sweetening" in my coffee, I was sadly 
confused. I made out, for a while, that I had 
not heard her ; but realizing, in a moment, that 
I had, ordinarily, a very sweet tooth, and that 
I had better take all the sweetening that was 
offered, I answered that I would " take it 
long. 

I have a very long remembrance of that cof- 
fee — it was " molasses boiled in." My stomach 
had been aristocratically trained up to the en- 
joyment of dripped coffee, sweetened to my 
taste ; so, when breakfast came about, I re- 
quested the hostess to give it to me " short." 

We w r ere put to no trouble in making ac- 
quaintances, as the natives surrounded and 
plied us with all sorts of questions. A negro 
boy, John, whom w r e had brought along as a 
camp waiter, seemed to be an object of ex- 
ceeding curiosity to them. He w r as as black 
as charcoal ; and from the w r onder expressed 
by the people — big and little — as they looked 



io Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

him all over, we judged that they had never 
before seen a human being of his complexion. 
The boy seemed bewildered by the attention 
that was paid him. 

While engaged in answering inquiries as to 
where we lived — -what kind of a country was 
"down South" — what the coast survey was 
doing away back among the mountains — how 
they worked the poor colored people down in 
Louisiana and Mississippi- — did they really whip 
them to make them work ? — did you ever see 
any alligators ? (ku-klux hadn't been born up 
to that time, else we might have been drawn 
into a political talk) — we noticed a game of 
grace hoops that was being played by quite a 
number of pretty girls in the grassy front yard 
of a place across the street. The girls had 
formed a ring, and each one, in turn, would 
throw the hoop at one or another, and if suc- 
cessful in encircling the head of one of the 
party, she had to submit to a kissing by the 
thrower. 

On remarking that it was a mighty nice 
game, and that a boy, in such a game, would 
never grow tired of it, one of our new ac- 
quaintances, a Mr. Prebble, at once insisted on 
our going over and taking a hand. Of course 
we blushingly demurred to such a proposition, 
as the girls might object, and as we had had 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 1 

no introduction, etc. We were, not excused on 
any such formal or conventional grounds, and 
Prebble conducted us over to the charming cir- 
cle, saying, "Now take your places with me, 
and throw the hoop to ketch a gal, and, when 
you ketch one, just run and get your pay." 
Well, such a time as we had. Suffice it, we 
had a good play, and the very best of pay. 

The primary triangulation was made with a 
theodolite of large magnifying power, so pow- 
erful, indeed, that a signal pole of six inches 
diameter could be distinctly seen at a distance 
of from sixty to seventy-five miles — and at even 
greater distances when atmospherical condi- 
tions were peculiarly favorable. 

The time of occupancy of a station varied 
from one to three months, according to the 
state of the weather. Owing to the high alti- 
tude, it was frequently the case that these 
poifits were enveloped by dense clouds, pre- 
vailing for days, and even weeks. 

The angles were repeated twenty or thirty 
times in three different positions of the instru- 
ment. This was done in order to eliminate, as 
much as possible, any errors of graduation. 
The azimuth circle was provided with three 
micrometers, by which the readings were very 
closely made, thus precluding any probability 
of an error in measurement exceeding a small 



1 2 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

fractional part of a second, after determining 
the mean of the repeated observations. 

As an evidence of the exactness of the work, 
six triangles were tested, and the greatest error 
was found to be but six-tenths of a second. 
This accuracy is arrived at by extreme care in 
the measurement of the base ; the selection of 
well-conditioned triangles (i. e., may have such 
sides and angles that a small error in any of 
the measured quantities will cause the least 
possible error in the quantities calculated from 
them), down to the determination of personal 
error and spherical excess. 

The position of each trigonometrical point, 
with reference to the north star (i. e., its 
azimuth) was observed, as also its latitude and 
longitude. 

The first superintendent of the Coast Survey 
was Hassler, a Swedish scientist. The great 
theodolite was constructed after his designs, 
and under his supervision. 

It is reported of him, that on the occasion of 
a conversation between himself and President 
Jackson, with reference to a suspension of the 
work of the survey, he became very much ex- 
asperated by " Old Hickory's " remarking that 
the government could do without the survey 
and its superintendent as easily and as readily 
as it could change its chief executive officer. 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 3 

" I think not," Hassler replied, " because the 
people can, at any time, make a President, but 
it takes God Almighty to make a Hassler." 

The effrontery of the assertion might, in a 
measure, be palliated by the real scientific abil- 
ity of the old man, and we should not be too 
hasty in condemning the propriety of his lan- 
guage, when, it is remembered, that there have 
been so many manifestations of impudent as- 
surance by numerous j^z/;^ men, styling them- 
selves Civil Engineers. 

On the approach of the winter the party was 
sent South to engage in the determination of 
difference of longitude between points in sev- 
eral states. Our corps occupied, successively, 
during two seasons, Montgomery, Ala., Wil- 
mington, N. C, Columbia, S. C, and Macon, 
Ga. At these and other places, astronomical 
observatories were hastily erected and con- 
nected by telegraph. The electric connection 
was made with a clock and chronographic ma- 
chine that recorded the observations. 

The same catalogue of stars being observed 
on the same night, by the observers at two 
stations, and the right ascensions repeatedly 
and accurately recorded, the differences of 
longitude were found to a nicety. The ob- 
server having a break-circuit key whereby to 
record his observations of passage of the star 



1 4 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

across the wires of his transit, could measure 
a fraction of a second on the chronograph. 

It was during my connection with the trig- 
onometrical party in Maine, and when stationed 
at Mt. Ragged, near the Penobscot Bay; that I 
met with Professor Joseph Henry. Apart from 
my appreciation of the man of science, to 
whose profundity of knowledge a universal tes- 
timony has been accorded, an observance of 
his social characteristics was confirmation, to 
my mind, that modest and natural simplicity is 
linked with, and inseparable from, true great- 
ness. In this, as in many other points of char- 
acter, he had his counterparts in Professor 
Bache, and that other grand old man and pa- 
triarch, Benjamin Hallowell. It would be edi- 
fying and instructive, to an appreciative public, 
to read the autobiography of the Quaker 
school-teacher. 

In the course of my movings around, I was 
sent to Old Cambridge, near Boston, as an aid 
to Dr. B. A. Gould, who had charge of the 
Coast Survey Astronomical Observatory at 
that place. 

The doctor was a gentleman of high scien- 
tific attainments, as the records o( the Coast 
Survey Office abundantly testify, and, consider- 
ing his ability and activity in the astronimical 
world, it is a matter of surprise that his fame 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 5 

has not been extensively published. While 
with this gentleman, I was also employed in 
the calculation of moon culminations, under 
the direction of Prof. Benjamin Pierce, the 
great mathematician of Harvard College. It 
is indulging in no extravagance in denom- 
inating him as great, when the learned men of 
the Athens of America pronounced him peer- 
less in the realm of his special science. 

He was a frequent visitor at the Observatory, 
and I remember that, on the occasion of one 
of his calls, he had a very earnest and excited 
conversation with Dr. G. On the day follow- 
ing, while talking with the doctor, I spoke ol 
the professor, and expressed some curiosity to 
know the reason of their animated colloquy of 
the past night. The doctor was rather re- 
luctant to confess the unamiability of his dis- 
tinguished friend, and disposed to extenuate 
his exhibition of bad temper because of indi- 
gestion or some other physical ailment, but he 
finally communicated a piece of intelligence 
that impressed me with the belief that the 
Harvard professor had but little respect for in- 
ternational courtesies. 

It seems that he had, about that time, con- 
cluded and published his ad-captandum of math- 
ematics — the Theory of Probabilities — and that 
he had received a letter from Prof. Airy, the 



1 6 Life and Times of a Civil Enginee7 r . 

Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, in criti- 
cism of the theory. This was not to be put up 
with ; and, in a fit of anger, he answered the 
British officer in about this style : " I don't 
know that I am surprised at your not compre- 
hending my theory, but I should be if the dull- 
est sophomore in college were in your mental 
condition ; and it is my opinion that the title of 
Royal Jackass of Great Britain would better 
designate you than the one your government 
has bestowed on you." The letter, though 
dropped in the post-office, was taken out by 
the good doctor, and never met the eye of the 
trans-atlantic star-gazer. As a little spark some- 
times kindleth a great conflagration, so, per- 
haps, if the mail had been faster than the doc- 
tor, the Britisher might have submitted the 
letter to his government as an international 
discourtesy, and brought about a war, with all 
its dire and fearful consequences. Why not ? 
Many a one has been fought because of a the- 
ory ; and as the Harvard man's theory was 
greater, and of more possibilities and proba- 
bilities than most of the political theories of the 
day, we are at liberty to congratulate ourselves 
on escaping a conflict with the great naval 
power of the world, 

Before dismissing the subject of the Coast 
Survey, it should be said that it is the best 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 7 

schooling in the world, perhaps, for a young 
man proposing to enter the Civil Engineering 
profession. It affords him an opportunity for 
employment and application of the higher 
branches of mathematics, in the acquisition of 
the knowledge of which he may have spent 
years of laborious study ; it gives him a famil- 
iarity with the construction and handling of the 
finest and most delicate instruments that are 
used in the geodetic works of the civilized na- 
tions of the earth ; and, as its methods and ex- 
actness should have their influence in deter- 
mining his work, he will thus lay a foundation 
for fidelity and precision of observation and 
calculation in any of the branches of engineer- 
ing and surveying work to the study and prac- 
tice of which he may be called. 

It is not here contended that a probationary 
experience on this national work is a necessary 
part of the education of a Civil Engineer, but 
that an experimental acquaintance with its va- 
rious departments will prove a material help, 
as a mathematical preparation, to one who 
shall afterward engage in the practical solution 
of the many and wonderfully complex prob- 
lems which come up with the necessities pf the 
time and age, and demand, for their solution, 
an aptitude to select from the vast storehouse 
of geometry and its concomitant sciences, and 



1 8 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

so apply as that the demands of such necessi- 
ties will be fruitfully realized. 

^j> 4fe 4t£ 4& $& •$& 

Severing my connection with the Coast Sur- 
vey service, I at once entered on railroad work, 
in the double capacity of chainman and rod- 
man, on what was then known as the Missis- 
sippi Central — now the Illinois Central. The 
assistant in charge of the party to which I was 
assigned was George R. Wilson, an untiring 
and indefatigable worker, quick in judgment 
and rapid in calculation, and filling the bill, in 
every particular, as a field Engineer. 

I remained on the line but a month or six 
weeks. I have always possessed a very large 
amount of endurance, but as I had to perform 
double duty during a summer season of ex- 
traordinary heat, attended with a drought, 
which is always a matter of anxious concern to 
a surveying party — as many a one can testify 
who has had to satisfy a thirsty craving at a 
mud-hole or a horse-track — and had also to pay 
for my own subsistence — and this, too, to hunt 
up, after twelve hours' work, by walking as 
many miles as would tire a mule — I concluded 
not to stand on any particular order of going 
by sending due notice to headquarters of my 
intention, and notifying it that, on some certain 
day, it would be privileged to. fill my responsi- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 9 

ble position by the appointment of some party 
who might wish for hard work and very small 
pay ; but I went, and went so fast that, on a 
hot August day, I tramped over forty-eight 
miles, carrying, one-third of the way, a thirty- 
pound transit instrument. This is on record 
as fair pedestrianism for a non-professional. 

My next service was on the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport and Texas road. Col. Bonner was 
Chief Engineer. The assistant to whom I was 
assigned as rodman was Darrow. Like my 
former chief, Wilson, he was an industrious 
worker, but without his capacity to recognize 
those economic principles which should govern 
and direct manual labor in surveying, as in all 
other occupations calling for the exercise of 
physical force. Two hours' necessary labor 
was extended over six days in the performance 
of that which was unnecessary. I don't know 
that Darrow thought it his duty, strictly en- 
joined on him by biblical authority, that I should 
earn my bread in the sweat of my brow. I 
was, nevertheless, physically so impressed ; 
and with the impression came the reflection 
that I had better husband my resources for 
bigger pay than sixty dollars per month. 

As on a former occasion, I took no time in 
severing this association, and, within a few 
days thereafter, found myself aboard Capt. T. 



20 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

P. Leathers' magnificent steamer Natchez, 
bound for the Crescent City, and thence pro- 
posing to embark for the city of Vera Cruz. 
At that time it was extensively published that 
the Mexican capital and the city of " The True 
Cross" were to be united by iron rails — that 
American Engineers were in great demand, 
and the pay of the poor devil who carries and 
uses the transit and level to be as high as five 
hundred to a thousand per month, while rod- 
men and chainmen were to receive double the 
amount of salary paid to bank tellers and 
cashiers. 

The temptation was grandly alluring to me, 
as, doubtless, it was to many others. 

I was full of the memories of Prescott's un- 
rivaled descriptions of the w T ealth and magnifi- 
cence of the Montezumas, and equally confi- 
dent that the Aztecs of old had but skimmed 
the surface of the mines of mineral wealth 
which nature had so bountifully provided. 
Riches had been found in the sands of Cali- 
fornia, and why not a speedy fortune, easily 
made, in a land whose temples were roofed 
with gold, paved with silver, and glittered with 
gems of purest ray and dazzling brilliancy ? 
The prospect was tempting ; but, meeting with 
an accident, a not unusual one, at any time or 
place, and r at all times, one of the most incon- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 2 1 

venient and troublesome of accidents — want 
of money — my trip was indefinitely post- 
poned. 

Going back on the line of my journey, I 
found myself in Baton Rouge, the capital city 
of the Pelican State ; and, from this time and 
place, I should date the beginning of my engi- 
neering career, as it was then and there I was 
first clothed with the responsibilities attendant 
on a commanding position. 

The state was divided into four swamp land 
districts, and it was my good fortune to be ap- 
pointed, by the Board of Commissioners, En- 
gineer-in-Chief of District No. 1. I had reason 
to be proud of the distinction, as my official 
commission came just in time to congratulate 
me on my twenty-first birthday ; and having 
been long afflicted with a torturing uneasiness 
produced by chronic impecuniosity, I experi- 
enced as sudden and gratifying relief from this 
trouble as I would now, in 1893, if I could hold 
a capital prize ticket before the window of the 
paying teller of the Louisiana Lottery Com- 
pany. 

At this time Louisiana was in receipt of a 
large revenue, derived from the sale of lands 
donated by the General Government, which 
was appropriated to general drainage purposes, 
and the erection and maintainance of levees 



22 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

along the Mississippi and other streams within 
the state. 

The Commission having determined on the 
drainage of Cat Island, a section of country 
lying between the Mississippi River, Bayou 
Sarah, and the Tunica Hills, I was directed to 
this as my first work. 

A topographical survey demonstrated the im- 
practicability of complete and effectual drain- 
age, and I so reported to His Excellency, Gov. 
Robert Wickliffe, and the honorable Board. 
The legislative appropriation having, however, 
been made, it was deemed proper to expend it 
in the effort, though it might fail in the result. 
It should be observed that Cat Island was in- 
tensely 'and unanimously Democratic in its 
votes. 

Having secured, by a long line of levee, the 
lands from overflow by the waters of the river 
and Bayou Sarah, two iron boiler culverts, with 
self-acting gates, were placed in position at the 
lowest and most effective point for the drainage 
of rainfall accumulation during the prevalence 
of high water. No patent was taken out on 
this culvert, as its material and design were, 
doubtless, contemporaneous with the birth of 
the iron age ; but it is not thought presumptu- 
ous in claiming credit for the cost of the work, 
it being but nine hundred dollars — four hundred 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 23 

linear feet of boiler shells, and each culvert 
forty-two inches in diameter, while a perma- 
nency of twenty years added additional testi- 
mony, not only to its economy in outlay, but to 
its effectiveness in the accomplishment of such 
work as was expected. 

It is not the design of the writer to enter 
into lengthy details in speaking oi the various 
works of his district, as it certainly would add 
nothing to the interest of the memoirs of this 
book, while it might bring upon him the charge 
of vainly exploiting those things which every- 
body can do. To those who know me well, I 
have no apologies to make, as I have no fear 
of their imputing to me a desire to impress my 
readers with the idea that I am " learned in 
engineering above my fellows " ; while to those 
who might misconstrue my honest intent in in- 
diting these pages, and ungraciously think of 
me as one having no modesty, and, therefore, 
less merit, I can only say that they should lend 
me all their sympathies, and help me in writing 
a book in illustration of my Life and Times, 
and show me how to do so without much 
speaking of myself 

Following this work, I was next directed to 
locate the lines of a large body of timbered 
land belonging to the state — comprising about 



24 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

one hundred thousand acres, and bordering on 
the Amite, Blind, and New river and Lake 
Maurepas. 

This was by far the most difficult physical 
task that I have ever had to encounter, and all 
old sectional swamp-land surveyors must read- 
ily admit it as one that few of them ever under- 
took and accomplished. 

The entire country was under water, varying 
in' depth from one to four feet, and yet for sev- 
eral months the running of lines was continued, 
and the winding up of each day's work found 
every member of the party soaking wet from 
head to foot. 

Necessarily, the camp was, most of the time, 
from five to six miles from the field of opera- 
tions ; and those who have tried wading in 
water, though but knee-deep — and handicapped 
by heavy boots — the day's work having lasted, 
with but an hour's intermission, from early 
morn till sun-down, and the stomach turbu- 
lently rebellious, because of a short and hasty 
mid-day lunch — can not withhold their assent 
to the conclusion that no greater hardship in 
the way of surveying can be thought of that 
will so effectually test the endurance of a field 
party. 

The evident object of the survey was to pro- 
tect the lands from the depredations of the 






Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 25 

timber robbers who were engaged in the trans- 
portation of ash and cypress to the New Or- 
leans market.. What effect it had the writer 
has no means of knowing, but doubtless the 
illicit traffic has grown with the years. 

It may be of interest to timber men to know 
that this was the most compact and extensive 
brake of ash and cypress to be found in any of 
the Southern states ; and if it has not been too 
much culled, a saw-mill at the mouth of Blind 
river would prove a profitable investment. 

Next in order, because of the magnitude of 
the work, was the building of the Bonnet Carre 
levee. A crevasse had occurred at this place 
during the flood tide of 1858, and opened up a 
water-way from the river to Lake Pontchartrain 
of a mile or more in width. The gap was 
easily filled up, as ample provision was made 
out of the swamp land fund ; and the new line 
having been located at a safe distance from 
caving bank, and built in due season to permit 
of thorough settling of material before the 
coming of high water, it served the purpose of 
full protection till some time after the war be- 
tween the states. 

It is the w r riter's recollection that the crevasse 
was caused by a caving off of a part of the line 
of levee. If this be so, it is only an additional 



26 Life a7id Times of a Civil Engineer. ' 

illustration of the negligence of some levee 
commissioners. But whatever was the cause 
of the crevasse which entailed so much of ruin 
and disaster on the people of the lower coast, 
it could have been prevented by the adoption 
of simple means and expedients ; and it is here 
contended that there is no good reason why 
levees should break, unless it can be shown 
that the annual necessities of the contractors 
demand that such should be the case. 

Doubtless, the positiveness of my assertion 
regarding the stability of levees will provoke a 
smile among those who have had much to do 
with the building of them, but when it is once 
conceded — as it must be, since fact will force 
it — that the material of all our levees, however 
small in cross-section, is ample, by a large fac- 
tor of security, to withstand the pressure of 
the water, it should be at the same time ac- 
knowledged that, if some expedient should be 
adopted to render the material impervious to 
water, and act as a successful resistance to the 
encroachments of woods-rats, crayfish, etc., 
we could secure for such structures as much 
permanency as could be expected from the 
piling up of Indian mounds. 

This could be accomplished by sinking gal- 
vanized sheet-iron plates along or near the 
center line of the levee. 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 2 7 

It is not to be inferred that any claim to 
originality is made in suggesting this device 
in the construction of levees, as it has been 
used in many that were erected to resist the 
impulsive pressure of sea waves, while defying 
the boring attacks of the numerous marauders 
of the briny deep. As a notable instance, at- 
tention is called to the Jersey flats. Previous 
to their reclamation, they had but a nominal 
value, but now furnish the most productive 
garden spots in the vicinity of New York 
City. 

New plans or devices in levee building have, 
perhaps, been thought of by many, while a few 
have obtained a general publicity without any 
practical indorsement. 

It is well known to the people of the Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana bottoms, that the high 
levees over low marshy localities, are not only 
costly of erection and difficult to keep up, but 
require constant and unremitting vigilance in 
their guarding during high-water periods. 

It was during the political reconstruction 
era, and the reconstruction of the big Mor- 
ganza levee in the Parish of Point Coupe, La., 
that the writer called on and submitted to the 
Board of Levee Commissioners, at New Or- 
leans, a proposal to substitute wood for earth 
in the building of this line of levee. 



28 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

It had been contracted for and built the pre- 
vious season, at figures ranging from seventy- 
five cents to one dollar per cubic yard. Just 
think of it, you fellows who are greedy to get 
hold of a piece of work at any thing, from 
eleven cents downward, so that the commis- 
sary holds out and pays the usual dividend. 

It was shown that places of heavy fills could 
be well secured by the adoption of the wooden 
plan — the timbers used in building to be 
thoroughly treated by the Formanizing process 
for preserving them, and to cost less than half 
of the ordinary and legitimate price of earth- 
work. The practicability and economy of the 
scheme were admitted, but the writer was 
given no opportunity to demonstrate it on a 
contract, because the Board had, in its wis- 
dom, discovered that "some body might set 
fire to the levee and burn it up." Such was 
the conclusion of a day's deliberation on the 
part of these Solons. 

The king of levee contractors, as he was 
known in those days, owned the Board, and 
controled their votes, by the same means as 
are now so conspicuously and so successfully 
operated by the railroad lobby with honorable 
Senators and Representatives in our national 
legislature. 

While on this subject, and before dismissing 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 29 

it, it might be asked if the wooden-levee 
method has ever engaged even the passing at- 
tention of those having charge of the building 
and maintainance oi the long- levee lines in 
Mississippi and Louisiana. 

Considering the magnitude of the interests 
dependent, not alone on the integrity, but the 
skill and ingenuity of the directors of such 
works, it seems passing strange that some- 
thing has not been adopted in lieu of earth 
embankment, because of the many ineffectual 
attempts to shut out the Mississippi river from 
the beds of natural drainage therefrom, or 
other low and marshy localities, such as sloughs 
and lakes. 

The inevitable settling of material, when 
dumped into such places, goes on at such a 
rapid rate as to require a considerable change 
in the Engineer's estimate of cost — frequently 
quadrupling original calculations — and in the 
end, the mountain of dirt, saturated from top 
to bottom, and honey-combed throughout by 
myriads of destroyers that are indigenous to 
the swamp, trembles for a while on its weak 
foundation, when, giving way, under a pressure 
of eighteen to twenty feet of water, a vast area 
is deluged, and thousands and millions of prop- 
erty destroyed. 

It is evident that a levee of great height, 



?o Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 



j 



and of the usual and ordinary cross-sectional 
features, when erected on lines crossing these 
very low places, necessarily imposes a very 
great pressure on a very weak foundation. 
One of the consequences of this is seen in the 
spreading of the bulk of the earth employed 
in its construction. The material is generally 
of a mucky character, requiring a longer time 
for settling than the sandy loamy soils ordi- 
narily used in building lower levees. Fre- 
quently the flood of the river comes upon its 
slope long before the Irishman and his engine 
have ceased their work, and the consequences, 
as adverted to, come to pass. 

The above was penned some time before the 
public announcement that Mr. Chas. E. Wright 
had patented his " Levee Safety- Wall." 

Since reading the many indorsements of it, 
and particularly that of Mr. Murphy, who has 
tried it, and found it effective ; indeed, so far 
effective, as to bring from him a proclamation 
in the New Orleans Delta that he had used it 
for several years — under the most trying cir- 
cumstances — in the low marshy grounds below 
New Orleans ; and that he was going to con- 
tinue using it " regardless of the Wright pat- 
ent," I congratulate my inquiry of the Engi- 
neers who have charge of the Mississippi levees, 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 3 1 

why they do not adopt something that will 
prevent crevasses ? 

In a late issue of the Vicksburg Commercial 
Herald, the writer indorsed the Wright Safety- 
Wall as the best and most economical that 
could be adopted as a prevention of crevasses. 
It is of inch plank. The center, or inner plank, 
to stand vertically from the bottom of a muck 
ditch to two or three feet below grade of levee. 
Inch timbers to cross the vertical plank, on 
either side or both sides — longitudinally ; a 
continuous section being made by breaking 
joints ; thus making a strong section over a 
long span. Hydraulic cement being applied 
as a filling between the joints and surfaces. 

A -Levee Safety- Wall Co.," of which Mr. 
Wright is president, has been organized ; and 
it is the hope of the writer, as well as the wish 
of the thousands who have property interests 
in the valley lands, that the company may be 
given an opportunity by the several Levee 
Boards, or the Federal authorities, to prove 
the merit of the invention. 

It was during a very warm summer that, in 
connection with Fred Farrar, the Chief Engi- 
neer of the second swamp land district, I was 
engaged on the survey of the Lafourche 
valley. It is not to be thought that a complete 



32 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

survey of this entire section was accomplished 
in one season's work. It was merely begun 
by traversing the Mississippi from Donalclson- 
ville to Fort Jackson, and thence down the 
Lafourche bayou to Houma, beside the run- 
ning of several lengthy cross lines. 

We had with us, as a check-leveler, a com- 
rade who is now well known to the states — but 
perhaps better to that of the Lone Star — as 
what the Hon. J. Proctor Knott terms a com- 
mercial evangelist. The party should be 
quickly recognized by traveling men, when it 
is said that he has a pointer dog, wears a 
white slouch hat, dresses neatly, plays on the 
banjo, sings a good song, talks rapidly but 
well, and is, altogether, as good company as 
one could find in a day's travel. It is reported 
that all Texas chews his tobacco — that his 
commissions are heavy, and he is, altogether, 
bloomingly prosperous. So mote it be, for he 
was always a prince of good fellows. 

How often do we hear repeated the woeful 
experiences of swamp land surveyors, when 
telling of the miseries inflicted on them by the 
mosquito tribe. Why, my dear fellows, unless 
you have handled an instrument in the Parishes 
of Plaquemine and St. Bernard, you hav n't 
the slightest conception of the magnitude and 
voracity of that pestiferous insect. It was be- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 33 

cause of these, and horse-fly blood suckers, 
that the Lafourche valley work was brought to 
a sudden close. That it has been continued 
and carried out, as originally proposed, I do 
not know. 

There is a large area of this valley that is 
irreclaimable, but a comprehensive survey of it 
would develop the fact that thousands of acres, 
by,a judicious system of draining and embank- 
ing, could be brought under the plowshare. 

Is it not curious that so much capital should 
now be employed in the digging of canals to 
penetrate the Everglades of Florida — through 
a section of country that is reeking with mala- 
ria — when lands equally as fertile, and requir- 
ing no more money nor ingenuity to redeem 
them, are to be had in the Teche country — 
the Eden of America ? 

Following this work was one of an attempted 
location of a tide-water levee. That it was 
not effected, was the result of combined resist- 
ance on the part of the horse-fly and mosquito 
tribes. They drove us from the field 'ere we 
had succeeded in placing an instrument in po- 
sition. Perhaps this statement will not be 
credited with being the full truth. To those 
who doubt, and are proud of their incredulity, 
it can only be said, go down and try it. " The 
proof of the pudding is in the eating." 

Brave Fred Farrar! He went to the battle 



34 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

fields in defense of his country, and met his 
death, heroically, at Murfreesboro ; and with 
him died another of the party — Adolph Kent. 
One was Lieutenant-Colonel and the other 
Adjutant of Gladden's regiment of Louisiana 
Regulars. 

It was about this time that one of my field 
associates, John Van Pelt, became engaged in 
a dueling difficulty with a Mr. Le Blanc. Be- 
ing solicited by Van Pelt to act as bearer of a 
challenge, I declined to second him in that ca- 
pacity, but persuaded him to permit of my of- 
fices as a peace-maker. Llaving failed in get- 
ting an apology from the other party, I stood 
aside, while James McDonald, the then editor 
of the Natchez Free Trader, and at this partic- 
ular time sojourning in Baton Rouge because 
of a shooting scrape he had had with another 
Mississippi editor, Bob Pnrdom, was selected 
to further conduct proceedings through the 
challenging and shooting phases. 

The parties met on the pegged line at Pass 
Christian, thirty paces apart, and emptied their 
shotguns of ounce balls. Fortunately no blood 
was shed. The combatants were men of nerve, 
and their friends had occasion to congratulate 
themselves that, after but one shot, matters 
were amicably adjusted. 

Van Pelt entered the Confederate service as 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 35 

a private. He was a native of Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey. He made a gallant soldier. By 
the bursting of a cannon at the battle of Shi- 
loh, he was afflicted with great deafness. Un- 
til within the last few years he filled the posi- 
tion of Chief Engineer of the State of Louisi- 
ana. It was during his occupancy of this 
office that he was promoted to a heavenly po- 
sition, for that he was a Christian his every act 
did testify. 

These were dueling days-, and two more of 
my friends sought the " field of honor" to ad- 
just a difficulty, and how unfortunate the re- 
sult ! 

This " adjusting practice " has been resorted 
to in all ages. Its advocates have speciously 
argued in its defense, while by far the larger 
majority of very good people have more rea- 
sonably condemned it. 

The writer, when a boy, back in the early 
fifties, was, with his two school companions, 
Jim Stetle and Henry Vick, delightfully en- 
gaged in camp hunting amid the wilds of the 
Deer creek and Sunflower country. And what 
a glorious time that was for game ! 

In those days the shooters of the creek — and 
"who were not shooters " could be more read- 
ily answered than "who were" — could see no 
fun in spending ammunition on coons, squirrels, 



6 



6 Life and Times of a Civil Engi7ieer. 



and mallard ducks, or even the strutting turkey 
cock ; such sport was too tame beside the chas- 
ing and killing of deer, and bear, and panther. 

We were initiated into the ways of hunting 
their favorite game by that brave and grand old 
Nimrod, Belcher. Is there an old settler along 
the Issaquena or Bogne Phalia who does not 
remember him ? 

Measuring six feet large in his stocking feet, 
full-chested, with square shoulders, bronzed vis- 
age, black, fiery, and determined eye, erect and 
graceful in his every attitude, warm and gener- 
ous in his affections, while terrible in his ven- 
geance, yet playful and frolicksome in disposi- 
tion, full of anecdote, and, above all (I state 
this as a reminiscence for the old, and as a rec- 
ommendation to the favor of the new denizens of 
that country), he loved all kinds of whisky, and 
was never known to be at the tail end of a 
crowd when they marched to the jug or counter 
" to take sugar in their'n," only he didn't take 
any sugar in his'n. 

Many a side-splitting laugh did we have as, 
lying in bed at night after a day's hunting 
tramp, we listened to his unbottling of anec- 
dotes, while Col. Vick, whom he was specially 
fond of entertaining, would pass the jug with 
"Take another, and tell another; you are bet- 
ter than a good story-book to these young fel- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 3 7 

lows, and I really believe your yarns will cure 
me of my dyspepsia." "Yarns! did you say, 
Colonel? No, sir; I tell you, my life's a fact." 

And it was indeed a fact — a theme which, 
told by the magical pen of William Gilmore 
Sims or Fennimore Cooper, would reveal a his- 
tory wonderfully marvelous in its incidents, 
while impressively illustrative of one of the 
apparent paradoxes of Hie, that truth is stranger 
than fiction. 

The old man has long since passed away, 
but " Belcher's Bridge " and " Belcher's Scales " 
are yet to be seen, the one over Deer creek, 
formed by the falling and meeting of two large 
sycamore trees, clean, and slick, and limbless, 
full seventy-five feet above the stream ; and it 
was over this bridge of novel structure — built 
of two straining beams — that the hunter, with 
rifle slung over the shoulder, cooned it up and 
down in hot pursuit of a bear. The other a 
large cypress log, having one end firmly im- 
bedded in the muddy bottom of the Sunflower 
river, while the other bobs up and down, first 
under, then high above the water. 

A young man on his first swamp trip, which 
he was taking on one of the little "stern- 
wheelers" that navigated that river, seeing this 
cypress sawyer, was curious to know what it 
was, and on inquiring of Belcher, who was a 



38 .Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

fellow passenger at the time, was told that it 
was his scales. " Why, Colonel Belcher," he 
further inquired, " what, in the name of sense, 
do you use them for?" " Why, you see," was 
the reply, ''these rafsmen up here got to 
stealin' so much of the state's timber, and 
there bein' no way to stop 'em from cuttin' it, I 
jus' went down ter our legislater at Jackson, 
and made it give me a 'sclusive charter to 
weigh all the timber that was floated out'er the 
Sunflower river. The state, you see, couldn't 
'ford to lose all this valuable timber ; so the 
weighin' charges was put at a heavy rigger, 
and me and the state was to dervide. Well, 
since I put them scales in the river, I've made 
lots and cords of money — and 'praps the state 
would 'er made some too, if the timber had 
hel' out long enough." 

It was during this very happy hunting time 
that the difficulty arose between my two 
friends, which, in years long thereafter, termi- 
nated in a duel to the death. The result of 
the conflict brought grief and sadness not 
only to the immediate relatives of Henry Vick, 
but to another who, within a week from the 
day of the fatal encounter, was to have been 
made his wedded wife. Stith was my assist- 
ant engineer at the time, and I have often re- 
gretted not being present on the occasion of 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 39 

the renewal of the boyish quarrel. The origi- 
nating circumstances were, beside these two, 
known to me alone ; and I have always felt 
that I could have accommodated all differences, 
and thus prevented the hostile meeting which 
.took place on the Mobile race course. 

Vick was seconded by Col. A. G. Dickin- 
son, the gallant adjutant-general of Magruder 
in the late civil war, and now a prominent cap- 
italist of New York city — and Col. Locker- 
idge, of Nicaragua fame — while the friends of 
Stith were Tom Morgan and Frank Cheatham, 
of Baton Rouge. Stith died in Vicksburg 
during the siege of that city by the Federal 
army. He was a lieutenant, in charge of a 
river battery, at the time of his death. 

Following the Lafourche valley survey came 
that of the New river district. It was an ex- 
tensive one — from the Mississippi to the Amite 
river, and embracing Spanish Lake, Bayou 
Fountain, and numerous other streams that lie 
within its limits. This work occupied a large 
party during many months. The New river 
section was embraced within the boundaries of 
the once notorious Houmas Land Grant, and, 
at the time of the surveys, there was much 
excitement among the planters of Iberville and 
Ascencion Parishes, because of an attempt on 



40 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

the part of J. P. Benjamin and John Slidell, 
then representing Louisiana in the United 
States Senate, to have the title confirmed by 
act of congress. It is an interesting case, the 
particulars of which are all set forth by a de- 
cision of the United States Supreme Court, in 
the case of Slidell v. Grandjean. Then came 
a trigonometrical survey of the Mississippi 
river, from the upper end of the first district 
to the last cultivated lands in the lower portion 
of the Parish of Plaquemine. These surveys, 
and all others that were made throughout the 
First Swamp Land District, under my admin- 
istration, were kept up in a connected form, 
and the entire system of levels was referred to 
a common bench work, on the southwest cor- 
ner of the capital building, at Baton Rouge. 

Maps of the many surveys that had, for 
years, been in progress in the four depart- 
ments, were in course of preparation when the 
late war broke out — work being done on them 
up to the time of the passing of Forts Jackson 
and St. Philip by the Federal fleet. 

As such notes were not essential to the 
posting of our state authority or military de- 
fense, they were — not quickly — but hurriedly 
rustled into drawers and boxes. Where they 
are now, may possibly be known to Major H. 
B. Richardson, the present distinguished chief 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 4 1 

engineer of the state. Doubtless, however, 
they are stowed away in Washington City, with 
other and more interesting historical papers, 
which bear the signatures of Jeff. Davis, J. P. 
Benjamin, R. E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, 
Beauregard, and a host of colonels. 

I never knew, until after the war, how many 
colonels it took to prolong it from 1861 to 
1865. The title seems to be one of common 
inheritance. I will risk the ring of the chest- 
nut bell by repeating the experience of a Phila- 
delphian, on his first trip, by an Anchor Line 
steamer, down the Mississippi. The boat hav- 
ing rounded to at a cotton shipping landing, 
our Quaker City gentleman stood on the boiler 
deck until the last bale had been rolled 
aboard — the bell tapped, and the boat was 
moving out from shore, when, observing a 
group of a dozen or more men astride their 
horses, watching the movements of the 
steamer, and bethinking himself of what he 
had heard of the number of titled people in 
the country — raised his hat, and, in a loud 
voice, shouted, " Good-bye, Colonel," when, 
to his amazement and amusement, every man 
lifted his slouch. 

Under the direction of Captain J. K. Dun- 
can, chief engineer of the state, I made a sur- 



42 Life and Times of cv Civil Engineer. 

vey of Old river, between the head of the 
Atchafalaya and the Mississippi. The object 
was the improvement of the water way be- 
tween these points. Capt. Duncan's report to 
the state legislature suggested the closing of 
the mouth of the Red and the digging of a 
canal for slack water navigation from the Mis- 
sissippi — following the bed of a " dry bayou ' 
for a mile or two, and entering Old river about 
that distance below the Atchafalaya. 

Of the merits of the plan, for that time, I 
can say nothing, as I have no remembrance of 
any particular features that were developed by 
the survey. I have, however, a very distinct 
recollection of observing a very expeditious 
and practical solution of the navigable prob- 
lem, by a stern-wheel boat called the " New 
Era." ' 

While engaged in cross-sectioning the mouth 
of the river, the little steamer, coming up with 
a heavy freight, turned her head down stream, 
and went vigorously to work on a backing- 
wheel. It being a sandy bottom she quickly- 
cut a passage through the shoalest places, 
when, straightening up, paddled on an unob- 
structed way to Shreveport. 

The term Old river, is the local name of the 
old channel of the Mississippi at the mouth of 
Red river. At this point, and immediately be- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 43 

low, the Mississippi formerly exhibited two 
great bends, the lower and greater of which 
was cut off by the State of Louisiana, and is 
known as the Roccourci cut-off. The upper 
of these bends was cut off at an earlier period 
by Captain Schreve, for the purpose of short- 
ening the navigable channel. The portion 
thus cut off is known as Old river. Red river 
discharges into this old channel, and the Atch- 
afalaya, which has an independent outlet to the 
Gulf of Mexico, has its source in this Old 
river, two or three miles below the mouth of 
Red river. 

Some time in the summer of '58 — in the 
month of August, I believe— I had presented 
to me, by an engineer friend, a prospect for 
obtaining a large surveying contract under 
Uncle Sam ; -certainly not less than one hun- 
dred townships in Nebraska. 

At that time General Ward B. Burnett, of 
Mexican War notoriety, was Surveyor-General 
of the Territory, and Mr. Delohnde, of Louisi- 
ana, was Register of the Land Office. 

The Register being a brother-in-law of the 
Hon. John Slidell, who was then representing 
Louisiana in the United States Senate, I had 
the good fortune, as a preliminary step, to ob- 
tain a flattering introductory letter to him from 
the senator's pen, and with this, and kind rec- 



44 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

ommendatory notes from the Hon. Tom Green 
Davidson, then a Congressional representative 
of the same state, I posted off for the Ne- 
braska prairies. 

The Kansas and Nebraska — Squatter Sover- 
eignty — Free Soil — Abolition — Pro-Slavery — 
or whatever name it may be remembered by — 
War! had, about this time, worn itself out; so 
far, at least, as marshaling big battalions on the 
field ; but the blue shirt and red shirt — con- 
spicuous and unmistakable designations of the 
side a fellow was on — could be observed along- 
every bend of the Missouri river. 

Outside the shirt two six-shooters and a 
bowie were sure to be seen ; and they were, 
doubtless, a very necessary rigging of the shirt, 
as ''grim visaged war' had not entirely 
"smoothed his wrinkled front." Some little 
personal matter might require explanation — 
instanter settlement — and each fellow needed 
to have a ready adjuster at his side. In other 
words, in this time of peace war was already 
prepared for. 

On the trip from St. Louis, up the Big Muddy, 
to St. Joseph, the lower, boiler, and hurricane 
decks of the steamer were crowded with peo- 
ple of all sorts ; and, to pass dull time away, 
I made many acquaintances ; but memory is 
oblivious of all names and features of those 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 45 

with whom I talked and smoked, except one 
fellow who played on me what, nowadays, is 
known as the Bunco or Confidence game. 

He was, in age, but a few years my senior ; 
of fine physical development, and possessed of 
conversational ability that was wonderfully cap- 
tivating. Having edited a pro-slavery paper, 
and commanded soldiers on many desperate 
fields, I was impressed with the fact that he 
was a brilliant writer and an heroic fighter. 

My destination was Nebraska City, and my 
entertaining man, as he informed me, was bound 
for the same place. In due time we reached 
St. joe, and as the stern- wheeler which was to 
take us on our journey beyond was billed to 
leave late in the afternoon, thus giving us sev- 
eral waiting hours to stroll around and see the 
sights, my friend suggested a ride out to his 
farm — about four miles from town — where I 
was to see his wife, " a true, noble and beau- 
tiful Southern woman," his waving fields of 
wheat and thorough-bred stock, and, having 
lunched, we would drive back to town, and, 
being refreshed, we could the better stand the 
crowded boat trip to Nebraska City. 

In an elegant vehicle, drawn by a prancing 
team, we made a rapid drive over a splendid 
road to the farm. And it was, indeed, a model 
farm, such as I wish might be built and kept 



46 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

up over every quarter section of our fair South- 
ern land ; but I fear the wish will ever remain 
a fruitless one, until we get rid of a labor that 
consumes more than it produces, and it shall 
be supplied by one that is industrious, intelli- 
gent and responsible. 

But having seen the wife whose grace and 
beauty had been so lovingly depicted by 
my hospitable friend, I thought of the broad 
green acres as but glittering baubles in com- 
parison with his spousal possession, 

So rare was her beauty, 
And so charming her face. 

Just imagine what Bulwer or James would 
say, in picturing a lovely woman, and relieve 
me of a very large difficulty just here. 

Having partaken of a lunch that was ele- 
gantly and luxuriously served, we returned in 
haste to St. Joe, and arrived in time to hear 
the ringing of the boat's second bell. 

The team was quickly surrendered into the 
hands of a livery boy, and we bent our way 
toward the steamer. We had not, however, 
proceeded very far when my companion sud- 
denly remembered that he owed a gentleman, 
around the corner, fifty dollars. His money 
was in his trunk aboard the boat — he would 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 47 

not have time to make two trips before the 
boat left, etc., etc., etc. —just loan him the 
amount, and he would be on hand before the 
boat shoved out. Of course I loaned the 
amount without hesitation. 

To reach the steamer was but a few minutes' 
walk. Comfortably seated on the outer deck, 
smoking a Western cigar, reflecting on the 
kind and generous attention which had been 
shown me by such nice people, and congratu- 
lating myself on having as a fellow-passenger 
my ci-devant friend, as far as Nebraska City, I 
did not realize, till looking at my watch, that an 
hour's time had passed since returning. Now 
the captain's pulling the bell-rope ; stage is or- 
dered hauled aboard ; last, departing tap of 
bell — and yet Jack Henderson is not in sight ; 
and Jack never did turn up, so far as I know. 

The trip onward was accomplished without 
accident to life or limb, though the little boat 
had many twists among the snags that studded 
almost every bend of the upper river. 

My introductory letters gained me a cordial 
welcome from the Surveyor-General, and, soon 
after meeting with him, I was invited to a 
prairie ride in an army ambulance, with himself 
and a one-armed Major of U. S. Infantry. 

The ambulance had been trotted along two 
or three squares, when it was halted in front of 



48 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

an unpretentious, California-built shanty, over 
the door of which swung a sign of WEL- 
COME. 

The inner man having been temporarily sat- 
isfied at the counter, and a half-dozen bottles 
of " saddle-bag cocktails " deposited in the 
army wagon, we went rolling along an undu- 
lating prairie road for, perhaps, a mile or two, 
when the Surveyor- General perpetrated what 
might be called that old Gubernatorial chest- 
nut, and — there was but little left of one bot- 
tle ; this one, however, got me the promise of 
ten townships. The increase in promise, how- 
ever, only counted by arithmetical progression 
to the emptying of the last bottle ; and, on our 
return to town, I found it optional to take or 
refuse fifteen townships. I was not long in de- 
termining the matter, as business at home was 
more profitable than such a contract. 

On the homeward journey — making the ac- 
quaintance of two surveyors- — "old timers," as 
they let me know — I was informed that I could 
employ such as they were for $75.00 per 
month, and that they would guarantee to run 
up a crib each a day. 

On asking to be enlightened as to the mean- 
ing of that new surveying term, the " old 
timers " expressed surprise that a man propos- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 49 

ing to handle a hundred townships contract 
should not know that much. 

A crib comprises a north and south row of 
sections, from the south to the north boundary 
line of a township ; making an actual line run 
of eleven miles, and a walk of sixteen miles 
(interior sectionizing). A few moment's re- 
flection convinced me that I should have closed 
with the offer of the Surveyor-General, and 
hired my crib men to do the work, thereby 
making a very respectable profit out of the 
fifteen townships. 

It seems, however, that a crib a day was 
nothing compared with the amount that could 
be done, and done, too, without much outfit or 
undue exertion. 

All that was necessary, according to the 
statements of my surveyor acquaintances, was 
to provide a light wagon and team, a tent or 
two, provisions, and a few et ceteras — some few 
jolly fellows— shot guns and plenty of amuni- 
tion, and a seven-up deck ; camp out, and 
have a good old time ; only running a few 
miles and locating a few corners. Expenses 
would be almost nothing — all feed and no 
work — and, when a reasonable time had passed 
away, notify the authorities, by sending in a 
nice set of field notes, that the contract was 
complete, and call for an immediate inspection. 



5<D Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

The inspector on the ground, treat him to the 
very best in camp, walk him to corner this and 
corner that ; and having satisfied him that you 
had planted a yellow locust seed at corner 

, a beech-nut at corner , and an oak 

acorn at corner , take him back to camp, 

fill him up again, have him O. K. your certifi- 
cate, and — drop the curtain. 

Ye old Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi 
swamp land surveyors may w 7 ell ask the ques- 
tion if, under the old contract system, a good 
deal of the location of corners was not done 
in camp. Isn't it remarkable that half of a 
well wooded township may be thoroughly sur- 
veyed, and yet not more than one or two 

Government corners will be found ? 

****** 

Let the survey talk be suspended for a while, 
as the several most prominent works on which 
I was engaged, prior to 1862, have already 
been noted. 

It is impossible for any one to determine the 
influential actions of their lives ; or, rather, let 
it be said, the originating and controlling cause 
of certain consequences in our individual lives ; 
but it is easy to retrospect the history of the 
thirty-three states that composed our American 
Union, and, from it, pronounce the cause of 
the untold suffering and sorrow which, through 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 5 1 

civil war, came upon Louisiana and all other 
states that raised the standard of the Southern 
Confederacy. 

For interesting and instructive facts, pre- 
sented in true and unmistakable shape, con- 
cerning the formation of the original Union — 
the Constitution of the United States — and the 
position and expressed opinions of the party 
that was blindly fanatical on the negro ques- 
tion, no better reference can be given than the 
History of the United States by that grand 
patriot and statesman, Alexander H. Stephens. 

I had thought, up to the beginning of the 
second year of the war, that hostilities would 
soon cease, and every thing return to accustomed 
channels ; but after Forts Jackson and St. Philip 
had been knocked into a cocked hat by Farra- 
gut's gunboats, and rendered almost useless 
for defense, some time prior to their bombard- 
ment, by the treachery and mutinous spirit of 
the Dagoes that constituted a large- portion of 
the garrison, and the surrender of the Crescent 
City, I obtained a six-months' leave of absence 
from Governor Thos. Moore, and, as First 
Lieutenant of the Alfred Davis Guards, num- 
bering eighty-five able-bodied Irishmen, en- 
tered on a military career that was neither 
grand nor glorious. 

My six-months' leave proved of no value in 



52 Life and Times' of a Civil Engineer. 

shortening my term of service in the army, 
as conditional enlistments were construed, by 
higher authorities than State Governors, to 
mean " during the war." 

Not many days had elapsed, since the forma- 
tion of our regiment, when our company was 
found to be minus a Captain. It was soon dis- 
covered that he had not surrendered his life a 
sacrifice in defense of his country, but had ne- 
gotiated a secret treaty with the enemy, and 
had taken advantage of its comfortable terms 
to return to the bosom of his family. In the 
order of military succession, I was promoted to 
the captaincy. 

The regiment, as originally organized, had, 
as its Colonel, Wm. R. Miles ; Lieutenant- 
Colonel, Fred Brand ; Major, James T. Cole- 
man, and Adjutant, R. S. Hewitt. Colonel 
Miles soon had a brigade command. He spent 
a large fortune in equipping a Legion, consist- 
ing of infantry, artillery, and cavalry. This did 
not so much manifest his confidence in our 
ability to whip the fight, as his judgment of the 
effect of consequences. 

Said he to the writer, while in camp near 
Port Gibson, Miss., in answer to an inquiry 
why he had trusted the Confederacy so largely : 
" Well, if we succeed, I will be reimbursed my 
outlay ; if we get whipped, why, plantations and 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 5 3 

negroes won't be worth a cent." The General 
was truly prophetic of the value of such stock, 
as it was for many years after the conclusion of 
hostilities ; and yet, through the good manage- 
ment of his vast estates in the Yazoo valley, he 
has not only paid off the enormous debts that 
had accumulated on them during the four years 
of fighting times, and twice as many more of 
reconstruction times, but stands among the in- 
dependent planters. 

The first service rendered by the Legion was 
in the neighborhood of Bruinsburg, a place 
made historically memorable, in 1807, by Aaron 
Burr's expedition, as the place of his capture ; 
and again, in 1863, as the landing place of 
Grant's army, after he had passed his gunboats 
and transports by the batteries of Vicksburg, 
and his troops had been marched down the 
Louisiana shore. 

Here, having gathered his forces, it might be 
said, at his leisure, as there was scarcely a cor- 
poral's guard to oppose their debarkation, he 
marched, almost without opposition, to Baker's 
creek, where, defeating the Confederate forces, 
crossed Big Black river, and effected the be- 
siegement of Vicksburg. 

I felt inclined to pursue the subject of the 
above paragraph, to the extent of giving my 
views of the military operations connected 



54 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

with the capture of Vicksburg ; but happening, 
just at the time when I was going to open my 
vials of wrath and criticism on the heads of 
several Lieutenant-Generals, to be reading 
over the introduction to Claiborne's " Missis- 
sippi as a Province, Territory, and State," it 
occurred to me, that the following extract, from 
the pen of that grand old Mississippian, would 
be more edifying and instructive than would be 
any presentment of the plan whereby I would 
have defeated Grant's designs on Vicksburg, 
and have kept his name out of history as one 
oi~ the Presidents of the United States. 

The. introduction says : "I had meditated 
a detailed account of the Civil War, to enable 
me to do justice to Mississippians, who won 
renown in so many battles. With this view I 
have read most of the books that have ap- 
peared, particularly General Sherman's, Gen- 
eral Joseph E. Johnston's, General Albert Sid- 
ney Johnson's — -the highest authorities — and 
most of the magazines devoted to the subject. 
I find them interesting, but conflicting ; contro- 
versional, not conclusive ; positive assertion 
and peremptory denial ; full, in short, of dis- 
crepancies that must be adjusted before either 
can be adopted as history. A competent mil- 
itary critic might now write a work of intense 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 55 

interest, on the errors of history in regard to 
the Civil War. 

" The reports of battles and campaigns, ac- 
cepted in the current literature of our times, 
are, in numerous instances, grossly erroneous, 
and, in some, mere coinage of the brain. But 
the world clings, with the grip of a drowning 
man, to these pet historical lies. 

44 Men who know better continue to rehearse 
them, and would crucify the bold sceptic, even 
though he held in his hand the sacred torch of 
Truth ! When a favorite falsehood gets firmly 
planted, the conservative public does not care 
to have it uprooted ; and sometimes, even the 
author of it, when the proof is brought home 
to him, will not take the trouble to repair the 
wrong. 

" When the Abbe Vertol had finished his 
work on the famous siege of Malta, a friend 
furnished him the proof of material errors ; but 
he merely shrugged his shoulders, and said : 
1 Mon siege est fait ! ' The manuscript went, 
as he had written it, to the press, although 
known to be an historical romance. There are 
many Abbe Vertol's in our day. 

" The conflicting narratives of great military 
operations in our times may be traced, prima- 
rily, to the correspondents that'followed the Na- 
tional and Confederate armies. Some of these 



56 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

aimed to be, and were, as accurate as possible, 
under the circumstances. Some were merely 
sensational ; some were paid to make false re- 
ports, in the interest of stock-jobbers and fa- 
natics. The reports of European battles, and 
the wonderful achievements of Clive, Hastings, 
and Wellington in the East Indies, were writ- 
ten by the commanding general, or an officer 
of his staff, and accepted as authentic. But in 
the Crimean campaign, and in every war since, 
the newspaper correspondents became an or- 
ganized corps, moving with the army, in famil- 
iar intercourse with the officers, sending off 
their bulletins in advance of the official reports, 
and forming a public sentiment not authorized 
by the facts, but very difficult to eradicate. 

" Thus, the received opinion is, that we won 
a great victory at the first Manassas, and that 
Johnston and Beauregard might have marched 
into Washington, captured President Lincoln, 
and ended the war, but were culpably supine, 
and lost the opportunity. 

" The facts are that we fought there an army 
three times stronger than ours, with superior 
equipments. When the retreat commenced, as 
we had no cavalry, it was impossible to pursue 
with infantry, exhausted and bleeding. ' Pres- 
ident Davis,' says Joseph E. Johnston, ( was 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 5 7 

present, and gave no orders to pursue, because 
he knew that it was impracticable.' 

"The battle of Shiloh, on the first day, was 
won by the Confederates against a superior 
force, which, notwithstanding its valor, and the 
ability of its generals, would probably have been 
withdrawn or destroyed the next day, but for 
the arrival of a powerful reinforcement. Con- 
fronted by fresh troops and vastly superior 
numbers next morning, our diminished and ex- 
hausted army fought heroically, but not com- 
pactly or in masses, as it should have done, six 
hours, and was then withdrawn by Beauregard, 
without losing a straggler, or a gun — one of 
the most difficult achievements in war. Yet 
historians on both sides have given erroneous 
accounts of the battles and the retreat. 

"'Sherman was completely surprised.' 
'Grant routed.' 'Grant victorious without 
Buell.' ' Beauregard utterly defeated.' ' His 
army demoralized ; a mere mob ; every thing 
lost.' 

"The actions of General Bragg in Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, have been 
subjected to versions not at all to his credit. 
And, in return, Generals Polk, Hill, Hindman, 
and Buckner, have been accused by him and 
his friends of conspiracy, disobedience, and in- 
competence. 



58 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

''General Albert Sydney Johnson, at Bowl- 
ing Green and at Nashville, was neither a sol- 
dier nor a hero, if the critics are to be credited, 
yet the same shot that killed him at Shiloh, 
killed the Confederacy, if we credit other state- 
ments. 

" General Joseph E. Johnston has been 
eulogized as the master strategist of the war, 
and condemned as a timid and wavering officer, 
who might have relieved Vicksburg, and by his 
want of pluck, opened the way for Sherman's 
march to the sea. 

" Pemberton is charged with a want of gen- 
eralship in not fighting Grant, with his whole 
force at Bruinsburg or Bayou Pierre ; with pos- 
itive disobedience in fighting the unfortunate 
battle of Baker's creek, thus superinducing the 
fall of Vicksburg, and, with a cowardly, if not 
treasonable, surrender of his army when he 
might have cut his way out and formed a 
function with Johnston. On the other hand, 
Pemberton insists that if he had concentrated 
his army at or near Bruinsburg, the iron-clad 
fleet of the enemy w r ould have seized the city 
he had been ordered to defend ; that the fight 
at Baker's creek occurred under circumstances 
neither to be avoided nor amended ; that his 
little army enacted prodigies of valor in the 
trenches ; that a council of general officers, 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 59 

with only one dissentient (Stephen D. Lee), 
determined that the attempt to cut through 
Grant's lines was impracticable, and, finally, 
that General Johnston had it in his power to re- 
lieve him, and by his inaction and timidity oc- 
casioned the surrender. 

" General Lovell, as true a soldier as ever 
carried a sword, signalized for his personal 
courage in the war with Mexico, was charged 
with cowardice and treason for the evacuation 
of New Orleans, though General Beauregard, 
and other eminent engineers, are of opinion 
that the forts below were not competent to 
prevent the passage of iron-clads, and that 
once passed, the city was at their mercy. 

"General Hood was called into command as 
the man of action and movement at a critical 
period of the war, who was to repair all the 
blunders of his predecessors, and lead his vic- 
torious army across the Ohio. But he was 
soon represented as a mere dragoon ; rash, hair- 
brained, impetuous in the charge, with no 
faculty for command, who criminally failed to 
attack at Spring Hill, when he should have at- 
tacked, and slaughtered his army in the insane 
attempt at Franklin. 

" Longstreet ascribes the terrible defeat at 
Gettysburg to General Lee's obstinacy and 
want of precaution, and, in return, some mili- 



60 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

tary critics attribute it to his own disobedience 
of orders. 

" The parties to these conflicting representa- 
tions, arguing from their own standpoints, and 
summoning only their own witnesses, have 
made a plausible showing. But it is obvious 
that a true and impartial history of that tre- 
mendous conflict can not be written until fur- 
ther and complete testimony has been col- 
lected." 
****** 

Laying aside the chronicles of the times as 
so romantically and eloquently told by our 
learned and venerable historian, we come down 
to a later date, in 1862, to tell of the exploits of 
Miles' Legion about Grand Gulf, a small vil- 
lage situated on the bluffs, about four or five 
miles above the mouth of Bayou Pierre. 

This place had been deserted by its inhabit- 
ants on the approach of some Federal troops, 
who, under the protection of gunboats, had 
been brought up the river in sloops, which, on 
our arrival, were anchored near mid-stream. 

A quick reconnaissance of the situation de- 
cided General Miles to post two six-pound 
guns on a rocky bluff, whence he could com- 
mand the enemy within a distance of about 
eight hundred yards. There were no roads 
leading to the position which he wished to oc- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 6 1 

cupy, and the bluff .sides were precipitous and 
thickly covered with timber. The employment 
of horses was impracticable, and the placing ol 
the guns being a matter that permitted of no 
delay, they were hauled to the summit by ropes 
in the hands of the artillerymen. 

The work was all accomplished and the guns 
in position, loaded and trained on the trans- 
ports that, with their living freight of several 
hundred souls, were lying within easy range 
and full view, on a moonlit river, when, just as 
the voice of the guard sang out, " Four o'clock, 
and all's well," the lanyards were pulled, and 
two solid shot struck the forward decks of the 
vessels and tore their way to the stern-posts, 
amid the crowded sleepers, who, unapprehen- 
sive of the proximity of their foe, had swung up 
their hammocks below, and had strewn them- 
selves along the pine flooring of the upper 
decks, to find sweet slumber in the gentle 
breezes that were freshened by the rapid cur- 
rent of the mighty river. 

Sixty-seven balls had struck the transports 
— killing and wounding, as we subsequently 
learned through a Natchez newspaper, between 
three and four hundred — before they succeeded 
in tripping their anchors and floating beyond 
the range of our little field-pieces. 

The party, consisting of Colonel Miles, Ma- 



62 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

jor Coleman, Lieutenant Kearney, and several 
other officers, while engaged in observing the 
position of the enemy and determining an ad- 
vantageous one for our light battery, was dis- 
covered by the sentinels in the shrouding, and 
minnie balls were soon flying thick and fast 
about the summit of the bluff, when Colonel 
Miles turned to Major Coleman and, in a tone 
that manifested extreme annoyance, exclaimed, 
" Why, Major, this is the damnedest place for 
bugs I ever struck." " Yes," replied the Ma- 
jor, who had, on several Nicaraguan battle- 
fields, become familiar with the peculiarity of 
such bugs, " they are bugs, Colonel, and, when 
one hits you, you will find he has a stinger in 
his tail that will go clean through you. Don't 
you see those fellows popping away at us from 
the vessels? These are minnie-bugs." "The 
devil you say. Come, let's hurry up this thing 
and get back to camp, and take some bug-juice 
as a preventive." The suggestion was so 
quickly acted on by the entire staff that the 
Colonel was fairly distanced in the scrambling 
race to a place of safety. 

It was not, however, permitted us long to 
rejoice in triumph over this, our maiden vic- 
tory, as, within a few weeks thereafter, Federal 
infantry and cavalry, numbering about five 
thousand, stole a march on us by landing 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 63 

about a couple of miles below Grand Gulf. 
This movement was effected during the night, 
and soon after daylight the Legion was pre- 
pared — not to fight — but to escape the conse- 
quences of a flank movement which the blue- 
coats were endeavoring to execute, and which, 
but for our hasty and practical recognition of 
the fact that prudence is the better part of 
valor — and the fastest of double-quicking on 
our part toward Port Gibson, would have re- 
sulted in the capture of our whole command, 
as its effective strength did not exceed at the 
time eight hundred men. 

It is true the disproportion was not so great 
as that of the Persian and Grecian troops on a 
celebrated occasion ; but we could not take 
time to make a Thermopylaean Pass — and no 
one felt inclined to take the part of Leonidas. 

But we did fall back, to and across Bayou 
Pierre — where we resolutely made up our 
minds to stay until the enemy again came in 
view. We were not pursued. They made a 
bonfire of the poor little town of Grand Gulf, 
and thus testified their exultation in having 
driven us from our camp-ground at "Benja- 
min's Hollow." 

The inarch to Port Hudson was begun and 
accomplished in a leisurely and comfortable 



64 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

way. The dullness of camp life had about be- 
gun, with its weariness and general dissatisfac- 
tion, when, on the 20th of May, the approach 
of General Auger's Division from Baton Roge 
was announced by some slight brushes with 
our cavalry ; and the same night General Banks 
commenced crossing the river with his army at 
Bayou Sara. On the. 21st, Colonel Frank 
Powers, with a small body of cavalry and 
Abbey's Mississippi battery of Light Artillery, 
were skirmishing in a pretty brisk way all the 
morning near Plain's Store, with the advance 
of General Auger. To relieve Colonel Powers 
and to enable him to get his force safely to 
their position, General Gardner, at noon, sent 
an order to Colonel Miles to take four hundred 
men of his Louisiana Legion, with a light bat- 
tery, reconnoiter the enemy, and make a diver- 
sion. This order was promptly obeyed, and 
the Legion marched out of Port Hudson, sup- 
ported by Boon's Louisiana Battery. Passing 
our picket post, Major James T. Coleman was 
directed to take two companies and advance 
as skirmishers to discover the position and 
strength of the enemy, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Fred. Brand directed to support him with the 
balance of the Legion. 

For this purpose, he selected a company 
from St. Landry Parish, commanded by Cap- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 65. 

tain De Jean, and another from St. Tammany, 
commanded by Captain J. B. Turner, these 
companies being almost perfect in skirmish 
drill, and composed mostly of woodsmen and 
hunters skilled in the use of the rifle. He de- 
ployed Captain Turner's company on the right 
and that of Captain De Jean on the left of the 
road from Port Hudson leading to Plain's 
Store. 

He soon struck the enemy, and opening a 
running fire, drove him backward toward 
Plain's Store. 

x^rriving at a large plantation on the east of 
the road, it was found that the enemy had 
planted a battery on an eminence in the road, 
and supported it with two regiments, the 48th 
Massachusetts and 23d Maine, which were par- 
tially concealed in a road which formed the 
southern boundary of the plantation. On the 
west of the road, and protecting their left flank, 
the country was almost impenetrable, being an 
old orchard overgrown with plum trees and 
young crabs and vines. 

As soon as he ascertained the situation, he 
directed Lieutenant Morrison to detail half of 
De Jean's company directly in front of the en- 
emy's line, and support the section of artillery 
under Lieutenant Harmanson, who was di- 
rected to open a brisk fire on the enemy's 



66 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

guns, and continue it, threatening to cross, un- 
til Colonel Brand arrived with the rest of the 
Legion. 

With the remaining portion of his command, 
warmly supported by his officers and men, 
Major Coleman penetrated the thicket, undis- 
covered by the enemy, until well on the flank 
and in rear of the battery, when the skirmish 
line was rallied on his left file, the front charged, 
and the column ordered to fire and charge with 
fixed bayonets. This order was splendidly 
obeyed under his lead, and at one deadly fire, 
at only twenty paces distance, and a wild rebel 
yell, our boys had possession of the artillery, 
and killed and wounded, and captured the gun- 
ners and their supports. Here Major Cole- 
man captured, and at once mounted, the fine 
horse, with all its war trappings, of Colonel E. 
F. Stone, of the 28th Massachusetts, a present 
of the citizens of Boston, and Captain De 
Jean also captured and mounted a fine war 
horse. 

By some inexplicable misunderstanding or 
mismanagement, the brilliant and successful 
movement was not supported. The balance 
of the Legion, under the immediate command 
of Colonel Brand, failed to make its appear- 
ance at the critical and decisive juncture, when 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer'. 6j 

the enemy were totally demoralized, and their 
entire advance line captured or routed. 

By this change of front to charge the battery 
and its supports, our own flank was exposed to 
the entire brigade of General Dudley, com- 
posing the second line of the enemy further 
back in the woods. These could be plainly 
heard now, recovering from their surprise, by 
the orders and language of the officers, and 
soon seen advancing to recover the guns and 
and prisoners. In addition to this, our own 
battery continued its fire, and its shell were 
now bursting among our own men. Before a 
messenger could reach Colonel Miles to inform 
him of the success of the maneuver and our 
present situation, our boys were overpowered 
by a largely superior force, and although they 
fought stubbornly to hold their prize — every 
moment expecting the. support to reach them — 
they were finally compelled to relinquish their 
cannon and prisoners, after suffering a heavy 
loss. 

A correspondent of a New Orleans paper, 
in giving a contemporaneous account of this 
action, employs the following complimentary 
language: "For about an hour the fight 
raged with much spirit, our men being greatly 
outnumbered. Finding" that he was out- 
flanked, on both wings, and likely to be sur- 



68 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

rounded, Colonel Miles sent Lieutenant Har- 
manson with a section of artillery to turn the 
enemy's left. This was so well obeyed as to 
break the movement which was about to en- 
circle our small force, and after having picked 
up and sent from the field all of the wounded 
he had ambulances for. Colonel Miles main- 
tained his original position on the north side 
of the plantations where he was soon re-en- 
forced by General Beall, who had been or- 
dered out to his support, on General Gard- 
ner's hearing the very hot fire in the vicinity 
of Plain's Store. The enemy making no 
further demonstration, without further ex- 
change of shots, our men retired within their 
intrenchments. On that day Colonel Miles 
reported a loss of eighty-nine killed and 
wounded* and among the heroes were Captain 
J. B. Turner and Lieutenant Crawford of St 
Tammany parish, and Lieutenant J. B. Wilson, 
of New Orleans, killed. The gallantry of 
Major Coleman received deserved praise, as 
did also the skill and tried courage of Colonel 
Miles, and the fight was looked upon with ex- 
treme satisfaction by our troops in garrison." 

The siege of Port Hudson, like that of 
Vicksburg, has been so much written of that I 
will attempt no description of my own. The 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 69 

result is well known. Doubtless, it could have 
been taken by assault, as the garrison, through 
hard fighting, constant watchfulness and hun- 
ger, was reduced to a minimum of strength. 

Without presuming to detract from the valor 
of those who defended the breastworks ol 
Vicksburg, I must be pardoned the reflection 
that Port Hudson had not the natural means 
of defense which belonged to the Walnut 
Hill ; and it must be conceded that Gardner's 
small army did well, at least, in defiantly re- 
jecting terms of surrender until several days 
after the fall of Vicksburg. 

% *• * * •» * 

111 health compelling the resignation of my 
infantry command ; after taking advantage of 
a resting spell, I again entered on a soldier 
life as a First Lieutenant of Topographical 
Engineers. 

Having been duly commissioned I reported 
for duty to Colonel S. H. Lockett at Mobile, 
Ala. This officer was a West Point graduate. 
He was not, however, so essentially W T est 
Pointish that he could n't see a chair, and ask 
me to be seated on my entering his office and 
introducing myself. I have thought it well to 
mention this polite departure on the part oi 
Lockett, as being distinguished from the swell 



yo Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

and offensive manners, which the Civil En- 
gineers of the country see so frequently and 
flauntingly manifested by so many of Uncle 
Sam's be-castled dudes. 

Having been assigned to duty in making 
examinations of Blakely and Spanish Fort, I 
had orders to report on their condition as de- 
fensive positions. 

In this connection, it is pertinent to mention 
that, during the interview between the colonel 
and myself, I was interrogated as to my knowl- 
edge of. civil and military engineering ; it be- 
ing, evidently, his intent, to impress me with 
the view that the military part of it was a 
strange, mysterious, and altogether very high 
science that only West Pointers could at- 
tain to. 

I had, however, on reaching Mobile, pro- 
cured a copy of Mahan's Field Engineering, 
a very large book of about six cubic inches in 
volume, including the pictures, had filled myself 
full of it, in about thirty minutes, and was well 
equipped to stand a siege of questions. 

I am blessed with a goodly share of mod- 
esty, as much, I believe, as dignifies the char- 
acter of people who have been well raised, and 
who do not ever-estimate their ability or ac- 
complishments, but, being somewhat provoked 
by having to submit to a catechisation as to 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 7 1 

my knowledge of military engineering, I 
brought matters to a sudden close by remark- 
ing that what I knew of civil engineering was 
gathered from the studying of mathematics and 
field practice that covered quite a number of 
years ; that I had much to learn in the line of 
my peculiar profession ; that, through the most 
faithful and diligent application, I could not 
hope to possess myself of but a few of its 
many great and wonderful truths, but that I 
had, however, graduated myself in the so-called 
military science, so far as it was taught by Ma- 
lta ji s Pocket Edition. 

This concluded my examination, and I was 
at once ordered to inspect and report the de- 
fensible position and condition of the forts 
across the bay. 

Blakely had been constructed after the de- 
signs of Lieutenant Ned Ford. I don't know 
whether Ned had a copy of Mahan or not. I 
never saw one about his person or in his tent ; 
indeed, so far as I know, his whole library con- 
sisted of but one volume, and that was of Bob- 
bie Burns' poetical works. Nevertheless, 
Blakely seemed to be built up according to my 
ideas of military architecture. It had entering 
and re-entering angles, and many other things 
about it that had names that I have long since 



72 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

forgotten. Take it all altogether, it was a 
common-sense structure, and I could never see 
but one defect in its defensibility, and that was 
the scarcity of troops to hold it. 

I don't think I can more adequately describe 
the condition in which I found Spanish Fort, 
than to say that it had an admirably command- 
ing position, i. e., of the bay immediately in 
front of it, where no man-of-war could come, 
and, therefore, from this quarter, no danger 
could possibly be apprehended, while, at the 
same time, the whole fort was commanded by 
numbers of high hills that almost semi-circled 
it. The place was pronounced untenable long 
before the enemy ever thought of approach- 
ing it, and why it was that we didn't get out of 
the hole and occupy the hills, has always been 
one of those mysteries about military en- 
gineering that the colonel held up for the 
contemplation of my unsophisticated brain. 

The boys slipped out under cover of night, 
and when daylight broke, the Yanks, seeing 
nothing to shoot at, marched quietly down from 
their roosting places and, as quietly, took pos- 
session. 

While the fighting down and across the bay 
from Mobile was going on, the bridge at Four 
Mile creek was swept away, and I was ordered 
to reconstruct it in the shortest possible time. 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 73 

I had but little difficulty in stopping the 
rush of water that had destroyed the bridge, 
as I was well supplied with sand-bags and 
negro cavalrymen who had been captured by 
Ned Forrest on one of his raids in North Mis- 
sissippi. 

For fear some supersensitive, tender-hearted 
commiserator of the colored brother might 
think that I dumped him in the crevasse 
holes instead of the sand-bags, it should 
be remembered that the cotton of which the 
bags were made was worth more, about that 
stage of the war, than negroes — a dollar and a 
half per pound, I believe — and that I only 
compelled him to take daily baths for about 
four days, when my work was finished. 

I know that such treatment was very objec- 
tionable, as not one in ten thousand of the 
" nation's wards " voluntarily undergoes an 
ablutionary process — it is too much like work. 
I can not, however, vouch for the cleansing or 
purifying effect it might have had, as I am in- 
clined to believe that 

You may wash and may scrub the nigger if you will, 
But the scent of the nigger will hang round him still. 

The occasion for the use of the bridge arose 
just on its completion, as the forts had been 



74 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

captured, and it was only a matter of a few 
days' time when the enemy would be in occu- 
pation of the city of Mobile. There was a 
hurried exit, by way of this route, in the direc- 
tion of Meridian, Miss. All along the line of 
retreat we had abundant news from the Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee armies. "Lee had anni- 
hilated Grant's army" — " Hood was in fight- 
ing and marching condition, and was striking 
a bee line for the State of Ohio " — " as a dis- 
tractive movement to Sherman," etc., etc. — 
and these reports continued to cheer us until 
our arrival at Meridian, when it became quite 
positively known that the Confederacy was a 
thing of the past. 

Of course, we subordinates at once con- 
cluded that we would resign and go home — if 
we could find one ; but military rule seemed 
yet to prevail, as I soon found out, when I re- 
ceived orders to make a hurried ride on to 
Columbus, Miss., and report by telegraph my 
engineering reconnaissance and general obser- 
vations with reference to a continuance of our 
retreat to that place. 

At that point I was to await instructions as 
to searching out a crossing of the Mississippi. 
This last announcement, indicating my future 
movements, was something that I determined 
to kick against. , Was it possible that Maury's 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 75 

small and demoralized army was to be started 
on a trans-Mississippi trip ? It would never 
get there. Even if it did, who was to support 
us on our arrival in the wilds of Arkansas ? 
Jeff. Thompson's Partisan Rangers had either 
been killed off or ^one off. Texas was too 
big a country to hide in, and too wide to march 
over before we reached the protecting wing of 
Maximillian. Some may have gone west just 
for the fun and romance of the trip. I know 
of some who thought they could not live in 
this country after the war, and, having a pile 
of greenbacks which they had accumulated in 
cotton speculations and general robbery, struck 
out lor Brazil and British Honduras, and, hav- 
ing spent their all in teaching the natives how 
to farm, returned home, sadder and wiser men 

To Columbus was as far as I proposed go- 
ing. I thought myself to be about as well posted 
as to the military situation, at that time, as 
any one nearer to and in the confidence of the 
Government ; and so I took the responsibility 
of telegraphing my chief that I proposed re- 
turning to Meridian, and, being paroled, to 
quit soldiering. 

By the time I reached Meridian, the United 
States paroling officers were there, and I was 
put to no trouble by a charge of insubordina- 
tion or disobedience of orders. 



76 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

I trust Colonel Lockett will read what I have 
said in an amiable spirit, as I wish here to as- 
sure him that all my recollections of him, as an 
officer and a gentleman, are of the most pleas- 
ant character. I have heard of him, since the 
war, as filling a high educational chair in one 
of our Southern Universities, and have met 
many young men who enjoyed the advantages 
of his tuition, and all spoke enthusiastically of 
his virtues as a man and his high attainments 
as a scholar. 

We were not long in going through the pa- 
roling formalities, and, having received trans- 
portation, through the graciousness of Uncle 
Sam, to Vicksburg, I bid adieu to many com- 
rades who were eagerly dispersing themselves 
to their respective homes, and took passage for 
the Hill City ; but not as one starting on a 
pleasure trip, anticipating enjoyment at every 
step, but with a heart-sickness that I had al- 
ways been a stranger to. Hope had always 
been a strong element in my composition ; but 
now, as I reflected on all the changed condi- 
tions of my country, I had almost given up to 
a feeling of despair. 

We may philosophize as we please about the 
equality of mankind, and try to reason our- 
selves into a belief that we are all adapted to 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. *]*] 

the same conditions of life ; that, whatever they 
may be, we should, with equal complacency and 
amiable temperament, meet the environments 
and circumstances that naturally belong to 
such. But our own individual feelings testify 
against the truth of any such doctrine. 

The destiny of the human race may be a 
common one ; and let us hope that it may be a 
happy one. In this life, what is agreeable to 
one is disagreeable to another. That which is 
looked on by one as beautiful and attractive, is 
regarded by another as more than homely and 
repulsive. 

It is, more or less, our appreciation of things 
that constitutes our true happiness and worth. 
As a legal proposition, we must conclude that 
there is an equality in man — in all his rights 
and privileges ; but do we not know that every 
one can not naturally insist on the same privi- 
leges of social condition or distinction, when 
we realize that all have not the same tastes, de- 
sires, temperaments, or ambitions ? 

Retrospecting the former surroundings of my 
life, in its home and general aspects, and know- 
ing" that the times and circumstances had so 
changed them that I would have to begin the 
battle of life anew, I had to call on all of my 
resolution of character and purpose to deter- 



78 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

mine that I would " let the dead past bury its 
dead," and "act in the living present." 

Reaching Vicksburg in a penniless state — 
and in what other condition could I have been, 
never having handled a greenback that I could 
call my own — I remained there only long 
enough to enable me to secure further trans- 
portation to New Orleans, where I had hopes 
of finding employment in the line of my pro- 
fession ; but on getting there, and making dili- 
gent effort to secure it, I found the supply 
greater than the demand, and I concluded to 
make my way back to Vicksburg. 

The return trip was made under circum- 
stances that were peculiarly mortifying and hu- 
miliating. My pocket-book was not thick 
enough to purchase a cabin passage on the 
Cincinnati steamer, and I had to take my 
chances with deck-hands, horses and mules, 
and discharged Federal soldiers, who, though 
now relieved of guard duty and hunting up 
Johnnie Rebs, were industriously employed in 
catching "Blue-Backs." 

Uninviting and horrible as the prospect was, 
my dire necessity would not permit of my im- 
proving it, and so I made the trip of four hun- 
dred miles. The weather was intensely warm, 
and there was nothing to assuage a burning 
thirst but the yellow, muddy water of the river, 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 79 

and drank from a bucket that was used in 
watering mules, cleaning decks, and other va- 
rious and promiscuous purposes. But the pov- 
erty of my state was more poignantly felt when, 
sitting on the stern railing of the lower deck, I 
could see iced creams and sherbets handed on 
silver platters to dusky courtesans by gentle- 
men wearing shoulder-straps. 

It appears that, thus early, in the beginning 
of my post bellum career, I was brought face 
to face with a condition of life that I can never 
think of but with a great and intense disgust. 

I was not long in getting into business after 
reaching my destination. The first helping 
hand extended me was that of Colonel Peter 
Casey, a brother-in-law of General U. S. Grant. 
I was made a cotton clerk in his grocery and 
commission house. Though born and raised 
in a cotton country, I have never been able, 
even to this day, to distinguish a good sample 
from a bad one ; but, as my duties were simply 
to receive, receipt for, store and discharge 
the bales, I was only required to do addition 
and subtraction according to the simple rule as 
laid down in Pike's arithmetic, and so I found 
it an easy berth. 

My employer was a man of generous and 
charitable impulses. He is now numbered 
with the dead. I think of him with a feeling 



80 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

of obligation for personal kindnesses, and with 
regret, that not a few southern planters, though 
materially helped by him, when credit for sup- 
plies for family and hands was scarcely to be 
had, repaid him with base ingratitude. 

I had scarcely time to familiarize myself with 
the ways of keeping books by single entry in 
a cotton warehouse, when my friend, Captain 
J. A. Porter, was appointed to the position of 
Chief Engineer of the Second Levee District 
of Louisiana, extending from Red river to the 
north boundary line of the state, and I was 
called into service as one of his assistants in 
charge of the line from New Carthage north -~ 
ward. My memory fails to recall the names of 
other engineer associates on this work, beside 
Captain F. Y. Dabney, Ernest Gouvier, and 
Clay Porter. Dabney is now Chief Engineer 
of some Georgia railroad, having been in 
charge, as such, of several others since the 
war, and but a year or two ago General Super- 
intendent of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and 
Texas Railroad. With Gouvier as Transitman, 
and Clay Porter as Levelman, under the di- 
rection of the Chief, I conducted a survey of 
the levee lines within my section in the summer 
of 1866. During the administration of Cap- 
tain Porter, quite a number of new levees were 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 8 1 

built, and many old ones reconstructed. Nota- 
bly among the number were the Ashton and 
Diamond Island. 

It was my pleasure to be associated with 
Gouvier in ante war times. He was the son 
of a wealthy sugar planter of Iberville Parish. 
He had all the fine graces and manners which 
so eminently characterize the Creole gentle- 
man — being beautiful embellishments of his 
mental accomplishments as a scholar and an 
Engineer. He, too, with many other of the 
bright camp spirits, has " crossed the dark 
river." His attainments and ambition gave 
promise of great distinction in the realms of 
science. 

My old chief, Captain Porter, having proven 
himself a valiant soldier in defense of the in- 
tegrity of his profession, has retired to his 
home, near Cooper's Well, Miss. Being 
brought up in the old Virginia school, his do- 
mestic inclinations — superinduced somewhat 
by advancing years — have called him from the 
activities and hardships of practical Engineer- 
ing life to a pleasant rest in his piney woods 
home, where he can find good chalybeate 
water and "look after the widows who fre- 
quent the well." 

The name of Joe Porter is, perhaps, more 
familiarly known to the people of the lower 



82 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

Mississippi valley than that of any other En- 
gineer of the South, and we never hear it men- 
tioned but with evident pleasure and esteem. 

yfc yfc "7F <f* - Tpr *¥» 

Returning from Late Springs, Tenn., in 
1867, whither I had gone to recuperate from a 
very severe sickness, contracted while making 
some swamp surveys, I formed a levee part- 
nership with Captain M. W. Hughes, and, un- 
der the name of Hughes & Searles, proposed 
to build the levees in the State of Mississippi. 

There had been chartered by the Legis- 
lature, in 1865, an organization known as the 
Second Levee District, composed of the coun- 
ties of Bolivar, Washington, and Issaquena, 
and it was authorized to issue one million dol- 
lars in bonds with which to repair the line of 
levee which had been a bulwark of protection 
to this fine country, but, necessarily neglected 
during the war, required extensive repairs and 
a general rebuilding. 

The Board had, for several years, endeavored 
to find a market for the bonds in the moneyed 
capitols of the north and east, but had failed 
to placed them. 

There being fourteen hundred thousand 
cubic yards of earth to pile up, we proposed 
to the President to undertake the work for 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 83 

the price of fifty cents per cubic yard in bonds. 
We were to assume the negotiation of the 
paper. It looked like a big figure for handling 
dirt, and, as a cash figure, it would have been 
then — and a princely one now. 

The conditions of the contract having been 
duly considered and agreed to, we took the 
first preliminary step toward a negotiation, by 
obtaining sound legal opinions from some of 
the most eminent jurists of the state, regard- 
ing the constitutionality of the law authorizing 
the issuance of the bonds. They were se- 
cured by a tax of one cent per pound on each 
and every pound of lint cotton and ten cents 
per acre on every every acre of cultivated and 
cultivable land within the several counties. 
Though the interest was large, amounting to 
ten per cent, the security was ample for the 
payment of the bonds as they might mature, 
the series extending from one to five years. 

The next step was to show, by the United 
States Census of i860, the value of the prop- 
erty within the Levee District, this being testi- 
mony which could not reasonably be doubted. 
With such data, and a thoughtful prospectus 
illustrative of the increased values of the coun- 
try to be protected by the building of the 
levees, I started for the great moneyed empo- 
rium of the land, New York City. 



84 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

Bethinking myself, while on the way, that 
some Southern men might be engaged in the 
banking business in the great metropolis, I 
made up my mind to make my first call on one 
should I find out his address. 

My first call was on Mr. James Robb, who 
had at one time done a large banking business 
in New Orleans ; and I was about to congratu- 
late myself on my good fortune in getting his 
favorable opinion and indorsement — I could not 
expect him to countenance it by a subscription 
to my bonds, as I had no idea that a man from 
the South was able to do so — when I was very 
brusquely told that he did not wish to be both- 
ered with a talk about Southern securities, and 
much less did he want to hear of any thing 
from Mississippi, a state that had repudiated 
its debts. 

This was a blow right in the house of one 
whom I thought I could claim as a friend. 

I have often tried to determine Robb's ail- 
ment at that time. Maybe he had just been 
Hutchinsonized, or, probably, Jim Fisk had 
about sent him " where the woodbine twineth ;" 
but as I don't know the many ways those Wall 
street fellows have of making some speculators 
look sick and talk ugly, I must attribute my 
unexpected reception to his having eaten some- 
thing that disagreed with him. He looked 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 8$ 

very dyspeptic that morning, and must have 
felt very bad. I do know, however, that, on 
reaching the pavement, I had a great big dis- 
gust on me, and I made for my hotel, there to 
think up the next move. 

I next visited Mr. Cisco, the banker in Wall 
street. The wealthy Union Pacific Director 
gave me a long and attentive audience, and 
manifested so much interest in the matter 
which I presented to him that I was almost 
convinced he would lend me his influence by 
subscribing for all or one-half of my bonds. 
He admitted the securities to be valuable, but 
gave me a set-back by saying that he had so 
many other interests to attend to that he was 
not inclined to invest in any new enterprises ; 
hoped, however, for my success. 

The unfolding of my scheme had been lis- 
tened to in high quarters, and I felt encouraged 
to go ahead. The Messrs. Opdike also gave 
me their attention, and after I had orone over 
the whole ground, I was asked to call on the 
morrow. This I did, and repeated my callings 
for several days., being from time to time in- 
formed that the more they thought of the mat- 
ter the more they appreciated it, and it was 
probable they would undertake the selling or 
hypothecation of the bonds. I worked on the 



86 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

parties as industriously and intelligently as I 
knew how, and failed in the long run. 

For more than a month, from day to day, I 
was interviewing the moneyed men in the in- 
terest of my big contract. I first begun with 
the proposition that, as the securities were 
sound, and the interest large, / would take dol- 
lar for dollar, but, as my pocket-book flattened 
out, I lowered my price, until finally I couldn't 
even get a bid from any body. 

I had lost the battle, and was thinking of 
how I could make a respectable retreat, on 
exhausted finances, over the long road to Mis- 
sissippi, when I was re-enforced by a sugges- 
tion from a gentleman (not a banker or broker, 
but one who knew them well) that I put the 
matter into his hands, and leave the negotiation 
with him — without any conditions, restrictions 
or stipulations whatever, and that if he could 
do any thing at all, it would be all arranged 
within three days — that, if not done by that 
time, it would be a hopeless task. To this I 
agreed, as the time was near at hand, when we 
had contracted to begin shoveling dirt. 

The third day had nearly died away when 
my negotiator came hurriedly to my room, and, 
laying before me several pages of closely writ- 
ten foolscap, said : " Read these papers, and 
sign, if they suit you. It's the very best that 



Life a7id Times of a Civil Engineer. Sy 

can be done. It's this or nothing — and no 
time to be lost;" and I, accordingly, signed 
away, right there and then, an income of more 
than twice "ten thousand a year." But there 
was no alternative. I was to receive forty 
cents on the dollar ; and, though the last series 
of bonds matured at the expiration of five 
years from date of issue, our notes for total 
amount of money received were to be taken 
up in one and two years. Every thing was to 
be concluded on the following day, provided a 
certain lawyer, of their own selection, should 
pronounce the law creating the Levee Board 
constitutional, and, whatever might be his 
opinion, I was to settle the legal fee. All this 
didn't make me hesitate. 

To-morrow came, and together we repaired 
to their attorney's office, and I had just begun 
to explain the objeet of our call upon him, 
when he interjected a remark about "the un- 
certainty of every thing South, in these recon- 
struction times ;" but this I cut short by re- 
ferring to the legal opinions of Judges Sharkey, 
Yerger, and Simrall, all of whom were nation- 
ally known. We were told to call again in an 
hour or two, when he would be prepared to 
give us his written opinion. We were punc- 
tual in meeting him at the appointed time, and 
iound him, as on our previous visit, busily en- 



88 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

gaged in discussing New York politics with a 
party of his friends, who were occupying easy 
chairs and smoking costly looking cigars. I 
had no idea that he could have given our mat- 
ter much thought — certainly no serious investi- 
gation — but he was, nevertheless, prepared 
with a written opinion which, on his call, a clerk 
handed me from his desk. It was an elaborate 
and exhaustive one — running over nearly three 
lines — reciting that he had examined the opin- 
ions of my lawyers, and found them sound. 
This was satisfactory to me ; but when in- 
formed of the amount of his bill — two hundred 
and fifty dollars — I was more than satisfied 
that he could charge more, for doing nothing, 
than the carpet-baggers who flooded the South 
in the days of military rule, charged the lonely 
and disconsolate colored widows, for services ren- 
dered in securing pension money. 

We were on time in beginning work on the 
Lake Bolivar levee — proposing to finish this, 
the heaviest work, before the coming of the 
rainy season, when Col. Ned Richardson ar- 
rived with several hundred convicts, which the 
"Pole-Cat Legislature of 1867" had paid him 
twenty-five thousand dollars to take care of and 
set to work on the Vermillion line. 

Without having consulted with or notified 
us, in any way, the president had assumed to 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 89 

let, to the great " Cotton King," one-half of 
our contract — and that, the very cream of our 
work — giving, as a reason for his unwarranted 
action, that the contract was too large for one 
party to handle. It's remarkable that this 
afterthought should have struck him, when we 
had spent our last dollar in finding a market 
for his paper ; when there was an abundance 
of labor ; and though our negotiation was not 
as satisfactory to us as we had hoped it might 
be, yet the margin of profit justified the pay- 
ment of high labor wages, and every thing in- 
dicated our ability to complete the work by the 
specified- time. We, of course, had our legal 
remedy, but, deferring to advice, we accepted 
the changed condition of things, and went on 
with our work by having Richardson take the 
Bolivar Lake line, while we moved down on 
the Christmas levee ; one of the conditions of 
our agreement being, that no reservations were 
to be made on our monthly estimates. 

We had about got under full headway, when 
the Massachusetts' governor of Mississippi 
(Adelbert Ames — I think he was from Massa- 
chusetts — at all events, we learn that he mar- 
ried Ben Butler's daughter) issued his imperial 
ukase, whereby the duly elected commissioners 
from the people of the levee district, were 



90 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

swept from office, and, as many carpet-baggers, 
appointed to their places. 

This was about a million dollar contract, 
and, as we didn't have enough money to talk 
to the Private Secretary of the Suzerain ^ at 
Jackson (I believe that is the titled and tilted 
word that Governor Alcorn used in one of his 
state messages), one of the first acts of the 
new board was to tell us "to git " — and we got. 

There is a heap more of this story, but I will 
leave it unwritten. For further information and 
more interesting details, reference is made to 
my friend Captain Mike Hughes, of Vicksburg, 
Miss., than whom none can better " point a 
moral or adorn a tale." 

It may be that I shall again have occasion to 
present some other enterprise for the invest- 
ment of New York capital, and 1 avail myself 
of the present to say that every dollar of the 
bonds, with interest, was paid without protest 
or postponement. The cotton tax now only 
amounts to a dollar per bale, the levee line is 
all built up, the yearly contracts for maintenance 
and repairs are all for cash, and we don't ex- 
pect to have any more Military Governors. 

With these presentments, and other features 
that might be mentioned, I shall, on another 
eastern trip, and with some other paying enter- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 9 1 

prise in pocket, ask such favorable attention as 
that I will get enough on my securities to en- 
able me to bear, with gracious content, the loss 
of a fortune on the Mississippi Levees in 1868. 

After spending a year or more in plantation 
and sectional surveying in the swamps of Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana, and serving, for a while, 
as Assistant Engineer on the location of the 
Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad in Ken- 
tucky, I was appointed to the Chief Engineer- 
ship of the Memphis and Vicksburg Railroad 
Company. 

My assistant Engineers were Captain T. G. 
Dabney, now the Chief Engineer of the Up- 
per Mississippi Levee District, and Holmes 
Pattison and Major Powhattan Robinson. 

Under the Presidency of General Wirt Ad- 
ams, the first twelve miles west of the Yazoo 
river, and extending along Deer creek were 
graded. Though the line as proposed ran 
through the richest cotton-belt in the South- 
west, work had to be suspended for several 
years, because of the inability of the railroad 
company to place its bonds. 

This was an enterprise that engaged most 
of my time and attention, even after it had 
been given up ll as a lost cause" by parties 
who should have been most interested in its 



92 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

success. I talked for it, and wrote for it, and 
endeavored, in every legitimate and business 
way that I could think of, to persuade the mer- 
chants of Vicksburg and the Deer creek plant- 
ers to keep the work going ; though they 
might accomplish but little, from month to 
month, assuring them that if they would but 
evidence, in this way, their own appreciation 
of the value of the road, their expenditure 
would be comparatively small when Northern 
capital would come to their aid and bring 
about the completion of the line. But all was 
of no avail. 

My next service was under Major W. H. H. 
Benguard, U. S. Engineers Corps, in examin- 
ing the Mississippi levees, and, subsequently, 
engaged in the improvement of the navigation 
of the Sunflower river. 

It gives me pleasure to state that the Sun- 
flower river men are unanimous in their praise 
of Major Benguard's common sense w r ays of 
applying appropriations to work, and not to 
plant, and excessively minute triangnlations ; 
and if further appropriations are made for this 
water-course, they want the Major to direct the 
improvement, being confident that the money 
will not run out before enough wing-dams are 
built to scour out and deepen the little stream, 
so that George Bookoutcan make his weekly 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 93 

trips, with his big steamboat, without having 
to put out a " dead man," and capstan over Oli- 
phant's bar and Mussle shoals. 

While engaged in this Government work I 
received a call to the Chief Engineership of the 
Vicksburg and Ship Island Railroad. Some 
ten or thirteen miles from Vicksburg southward 
had been graded and ironed several years pre- 
viously, and a party of Yicksburgers had pur- 
chased it for a nominal sum. The State of 
Mississippi held a mortgage on it of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars, but the new purchasers 
had succeeded in having a legislative act passed, 
whereby the state was to release its mortgage, 
provided the road was built to Big Black, and 
the river bridged by a certain day. Such 
building and bridging was to be certified to by 
the Chief Engineer of the road ; and, upon his 
statement, the Attorney-General was author- 
ized to cancel the State's lien.] 

The time in which this work was to be done 
was short, and the company equally short in 
funds. However, we went to work and rushed 
it with, perhaps, more expedition than was 
ever known in railroad building under the same 
circumstances — there being a hustling and 
scuffling about, at the close of each week, to 
know where the money was to come from to 
meet the expenses of the following one. 



94 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

A contract had been made with the Penn 
Bridge Company, of Pennsylvania, to erect a 
bridge over the river, and we had reason to 
believe, from their representations, that . we 
would meet with no difficulty on that score ; 
but these gentlemen had made their calcula- 
tions with little or no reference to the stream 
they proposed to bridge. 

The Big Black crossing was located about 
seven or eight miles from its emptying point 
at the Mississippi river, and, in this distance, it 
had a fall of a foot to the mile. The driving 
of piles was begun on Christmas day. Under 
the contract, the Bridge Company was to do its 
own work, from the foundation seats through- 
out ; but, at their request, and through my 
anxiety to hurry matters, I undertook the su- 
perintendency of the pile driving and the erec- 
tion of the piers. 

This was done under difficulties that arose 
from day to day, but the greatest we had to 
contend with were the extraordinary freshets 
of the river — rising as much as twenty feet in 
a night, and a current of fully ten miles or 
more per hour. What would be the velocity — 
fifty feet in depth, and having a slope of twelve 
inches per mile — it is not necessary, for the 
purpose of this book, to determine to any par- 
ticular degree of exactness. If any one thinks 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 95 

Big Black is not a thoroughbred racer when 
in running trim, the advice is, go and look at 
her. 

The 25th of February being near at hand, 
and the Bridge Company finding itself unable 
to erect false works — the river being yet on 
one of its booms — I anchored a hundred-foot 
barge between the piers, and piling cross-ties 
on it, up to the level of the bridge seats, had 
the iron rails spiked thereon, and crossed a 
train over into, and back from, Claiborne 
county. 

This was on the morning of the last day- 
given us for lifting the mortgage. And thus, 
by as hard work as I ever did, and by the near 
loss of my life, I saved to the company their road 
and its franchises — and, for all this, I was most 
illiberally requited, to say the least, as I will, 
in a measure, attempt to show before conclud- 
ing my history of the road. 

Before engaging with the Ship Island Com- 
pany, I had obtained a judgment against the 
Memphis & Vicksburg R. R. Co. for an amount 
of salary that was due me ; and after the com- 
pletion of the line of road (/. e., grading and 
partial ironing) to within a mile of Port Gib- 
son, I suggested to the Ship Island Packing 
Company, as I had done lrequently before, that 



96 Life and Times of a Civil .Engineer . 

they build the Memphis road in connection 
with the one they had in charge ; as the Ship 
Island, by itself, and terminating at New Or- 
leans, Ship Island, or any other point along 
the Mississippi coast, was of no value ; but 
could be so made, by having its initial point 
at Memphis. 

The advice was acted on, and it was pro- 
posed to buy my judgment of six thousand 
dollars for the sum of five hundred dollars, 
the company retaining me as Chief Engineer 
of both lines, at a respectable salary. 

As the latter road had been, for years, a 
matter of great interest to me, as I have al- 
ready indicated — and was assured by the par- 
ties that they could readily obtain all necessary 
means to construct, and that they had also se- 
cured the chartered rights of the Tennessee 
Southern, of which I was appointed Chief En- 
gineer — I parted with my judgment on the 
terms as proposed, and continued to serve them 
by working on both lines. 

In course of time, and that not long, while I 
was industriously at work — unsuspicious ot 
any duplicity on the part of those for whom I 
had labored, clay and night, and for small com- 
pensation — as I did most of the necessary field 
work, the company being too poor to supply 
me with the usual engineering aid — I learned 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 97 

that they had sold out to Huntington and 
Wilson, and, in the sale, I found myself sold. 

I had not thought, in the beginning of the 
relation of the circumstances attending my 
connection with these roads, that it would 
prove an interesting or entertaining thing to 
any who might pick up this little book, but I 
could not well tell of my experiences as a Civil 
Engineer without dwelling at some length on 
these just spoken of. I have thus written in 
justice to myself. 

Under the new administration of these 
roads— the combined lines being now known 
as the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas — 
Captain J no. A. Grant was its Chief Engineer, 
and Mr. R. H. Elliot the Principal Assistant, 
under whom I served as Division Engineer. 
Both of these gentlemen are well known to 
the railroad world, and are now occupying dis- 
tinguished Engineering positions. 

I was one of the company with Mr. R. T. 
Wilson on his first trip up the Yazoo Delta, 
and I remember his making inquiry of me as 
to what I thought of the value of the lands 
which his company had purchased of the 
state — about seven hundred thousand acres 
for thirty-five thousand dollars ? He thought 
they were altogether swamp lands ; and though 
a railroad might be built through them, they 



98 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

would never command a very high price. I 
answered, that my familiarity with the lay of 
the Yazoo Dalta, assured me in the belief, that 
there was not an acre of ground within its 
limits but could be brought under successful 
cultivation * through a judicious system of 
ditching and draining. That though the maps 
of the country showed many small rivers, 
creeks, bayous, lagoons or sloughs, and lakes, 
that the main drainage, by way of the rivers 
and creeks, had all a common tendency south- 
ward, debouching, ultimately, by the Yazoo, 
into the Mississippi, at the foot of the Delta 
which had a slope, latitudinally, of from three 
to four inches to the mile ; and that the drain- 
age of the lower or swampy places would be, 
in time, accomplished by proper ditch or canal 
connections. 

As to the present value of the lands, I rated 
them all around at three dollars per acre, and 
that the time was coming — and I thought it 
not far distant — when that of his whole pur- 
chase would equal the cost of construction of 
his road from Vicksburg to Memphis. These 
lands are now being sold by the company at 
from five to ten dollars per acre. 

It is remarkable how little is known, by the 
people of the states generally, of this wonder- 
fully productive section of country. It has an 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 99 

area of about seven thousand square miles, or 
four million four hundred and eighty thousand 
acres, capable of producing one hundred 
bushels of corn to the acre — or a total of four 
hundred and forty-eight millions — a provision 
of about seven bushels per head for the entire 
population of the United States, estimating it 
at sixty millions. Or, if in cotton, a bale per 
acre, a total of four million four hundred and 
eighty thousand, being more than one-half of 
the entire cotton crop of the Southern States. 

These figures look very large, and it may be 
thought that I have introduced them solely to 
add to the number of pages of this book, but 
I shall always insist on the correctness of my 
estimate until some one proves that the soil 
has not the productive capacity I have credited 
it with. 

It is no argument to ask why the planters 
buy so much corn of the West. Under the 
present system of labor, and the iron-clad con- 
ditions accompanying the supplies of the mer- 
chant to the planter, the corn-patch is, neces- 
sarily, small in comparison with the cotton- 
field. 

When the Delta shall be filled with such 
thrifty and intelligent labor as till the prairies 
of the North-west, it will then be demonstrated 



ioo Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

that the cotton planters can live independent 

of foreign corn-cribs and smoke-houses. 

•* * * * * * 

Having made the surveys of the Vicksburg 
and Canton and Vicksburg and Yazoo City Rail- 
road lines, I next turned my attention to the 
hunting up of cypress timber in Bolivar county. 

Having been told, by Governor Charles 
Clark, that if I could find out a way to flood 
the California Brake, I could lay aside Engi- 
neering, and retire on a comfortable provision 
for my remaining days, I took up my compass 
and level, and started in search of the fortune 
which that excellent old gentleman so allur- 
ingly represented as being within my grasp. 

Procuring a township map on which the 
brake was shown as covering several sections, 
I had no difficulty in finding it ; but, on exam- 
ination, discovered that it was impracticable to 
flood it to a floating depth, and the timber, 
though abundant, was of a scraggy growth, 
and unmerchantable. 

After talking with an old squatter whose 
hospitality I had enjoyed for several days, I 
learned that there was a fine lot of timber 
about seven miles below the California that 
was worth looking at, and on going there found 
it as he had represented — covering about two 
sections, having a mean average diameter of 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer, i o i 

fully three feet ; from fifty to sixty feet to low- 
est limb ; of straight and regular grain, and 
numbering about thirty to the acre. 

This was a California brake, indeed. Hav- 
ing located the sections, I ran many lines of 
levels, and finally developed a feasible and 
economical plan for floating the timber into the 
Sunflower river, and thence to a market where 
it would command from twelve to fifteen dollars 
per tree. 

Well, did you enter it as State Land ? In 
order to do so, it was necessary to be in pocket 
to the amount of six hundred dollars — a small 
sum, it is true, to a man who has a good many 
six hundreds more ; but I had n't the first six, 
and could n't get it — while some others, equally 
as enterprising as myself, but better heeled, slip- 
ped out to the Land Office and cut me out of 
another fortune. It is now known as the Meri- 
gold Brake along the line of the Louisville, 
New Orleans and Texas Railroad. 

The next time I go timber hunting — and find 
a good thing — I propose to keep a still tongue 
in my head, until I see the man at the Capitol 
who has charge of the records, and maybe I 
can get a part interest. 

I wonder, often and often, what star I was 
born under. We are, every now and then, 
advised, if there be no opportunity, to "make 



. 



102 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

an opportunity." Why, I've made more op- 
portunities — whereby other men have made for- 
tunes — than any other individual in six states. 
I've quit making them, and hereafter I will 
wait till they are made for me. It may be, in 
time, that I will have some offered or forced 
on me — just cut and made to my liking. Nous 
verrons. 

I had about recovered from the afflictive 
stroke that was dealt me in this big timber 
deal, when I was called on by a raftsman to 
locate the lines of certain sections of land in 
Issaquena County, on which he had cut, and 
had ready for floating, a large quantity of 
cypress. 

Arriving at his camp, I found the swamp 
covered with the monster trees which had been 
felled by his sturdy axemen, and the trimming 
up process was being carried on at a rapid 
rate. 

What a lusty and jolly set of fellows these 
raftsmen are. Their expertness with the axe 
is truly wonderful. They will stand in a dug- 
out — so light in weight that a boy can lift and 
carry one, and so easily toppled over that you 
have always to look carefully to your balanc- 
ing — and, from it, cut to the line and clean 
chip, these forest giants to a fall ; and again 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 03 

they will insert a narrow board above the butt- 
swell, at times as much as ten feet higher than 
their dug-outs, and from this precarious perch 
will chop with quickness and precision until, 
assured by the cracking and leaning, that not 
another stroke is needed, will hurriedly slide 
into their frail and bobbing little boats, and 
dart away out of reach of danger. 

Having made the survey, I found my party 
was cutting timber on another man's land, and 
before leaving his camp the sheriff had taken 
him in charge. The penalty for this offense in 
the State of Mississippi is a fine and imprison- 
ment in the penitentiary. 

The trial coming off, I was employed by my 
man, in a pseudo legal capacity, to assist his 
attorney before the court in examining the 
county surveyor. 

This officer was of the reconstruction era, 
having floated into this county with the large 
cargo of carpet-baggers that was shipped here 
after "the late unpleasantness," to adjust and 
regulate matters generally. The court was 
presided over by two justices — one a full 
blooded negro, and the other a white scallawag. 

The county surveyor being on the witness 
stand, he was interrogated as to his knowledge 
of the lines in question. 

Q. Are you a surveyor ? 



1 04 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

A. I am. 

Q. I presume you are thorough and capable 
in your line of business ? 

A. I should rather think I was. 

Q. Did you make a survey of the lines of 

Sections No. in Township No. and 

Range No. ? 

A. I did. 

Q. What point did you select as the initial 
one of your survey ? 

A. As near as I remember, the southeast 
corner of section No. — ■-. 

Q. How did you know it to be the corner? 

A. Because I knew it. How else would I 
know it? 

Q. The corners, Mr. , as you should 

know, are indicated by certain bearing trees, 
as shown by the government field notes. Did 
you have the field notes, and did you find the 
bearing or pointing trees, and from them obtain 
your starting point ? 

A. No; I didn't have any thing of the kind. 

Q. How did you know it was the corner 
then ? 

A. I just knew it because there was a stick 
stuck there. 

Q. All right. Which way did you then run ? 

A. I run due South. 

Q. How far ? 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 105 

A. Two miles. 

Q. Very well. That brought you to the 
southeast corner of Section No. — . 

A. Yes, sir; as near as I figger it, it did. 

Q. If you are good at figgei'ing, let's know 
how you figgered to run- two miles due south, 
by informing the court as to your allowance for 
the needle variation at the time you made the 
survey ? 

A. As near as I now remember, it was eight 
degrees and forty-five minutes west. 

Q. Are you positive that the magnetic varia- 
tion, at that time and place, was as you have 
stated it to have been ? 

A. Yes, sir ; on reflection, I'm positive. 

Q. Now, don't you know that, at that time, 
the variation was as much as a degree and a 
half less than what you have stated it to have 
been, and that it is east, and not west? 

A. Well, I oughter know what I'm talking 
about, as I fixed it. 

O. I presume you determined the variation 
by observations on the North or some other 
circumpolar stars, at their culminations or elon- 
gations ; if so, please tell us how you did it. 

A. Well, look here, now. I came here to 
be examined about worldly matters. When 
you git into astronomy and all them hifalutin 
things, which don't have a thing to do with this 



106 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

cypress timber business, I'm going to let you 
^tar it out 'til you come down to something 
that's reasonable. 

Q. Very well.. Now, Mr. , I suppose 

you are acquainted with the way of calculating 
latitude and departure ? Will you please tell 
the court how much an angle of one degree 
will subtend at a distance of one hundred feet ? 

A. As that question involves a case of log- 
arithms, I'll have to do a little figgcring. 

Here he pulled from his pocket a little book, 
which he told the court was his lt old reliable, 
Gibson on Surveying;" and after turning over 
its pages for so long a time, that the court came 
near adjourning to take a drink, he announced 
that he found the answer. 

0. What is it, Mr. ? 

A. As near as I have figgered it — to the 
second decimal place — it's about six feet and 
thirty-three hundredths. 

Q. Don't you think your logarithms are a 
little stretchy? 

A. No, sir ; I sorter held them in. I might 
have gone on with them decimals to ad infin- 
itum, as they call it, but thirty three hun- 
dredths is close enough. You see the compass 
wont read any nearer than that. 

Q. Well, let's go on from your last point. 
Which way did you next go, and how far ? 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 107 

-A. I went due east, two miles. 

Q. Had to go through deep water most of 
the way, did you not ? Found it impossible to 
chain most of the line. Suppose you triangu- 
lated part of it, and traversed about a great 
deal ; and eventually got back on your line by 
the usual determining ways ? 

A. Yes, sir ; that was a thing that didn't 
bother me a bit. 

0. Why, that is remarkable. How did you 
accomplish it ? 

A. Now, there's where I've got you, if you 
did come here as an expert. Why, I used two 
compasses. 

Q. Two compasses ! F or what ? 

A. Why, I used one to take my fore sight, 
and the other to take by back sight. 

The half of the examination has not been 
told. Witnesses all examined, the lawyers 
made their speeches, and judgment rendered 
against my raftsman. That he had trespassed 
on another's property was true, but how did 
the court arrive at the fact ? 

However, my man escaped the heavy penalty 
by a money compromise — how, or in what 
way, I never knew — and shortly after the trial 
was killed in a street fight in Vicksburg. 

And so terminated another cypress transac- 



108 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

action ; but this time I got what I had ex- 
pected, not a fortune, but my surveying fees. 

fit, &. Cte. jit jJt J4» 

?{* ^S ^t> t^jc y(s vpr 

After occupying myself, in connection with 
Mr. 'George D. Stonestreet, in general en- 
gineering and surveying in Birmingham, Ala., 
the magic city of the South, for a year or 
more, I next moved to Kansas, where I was 
employed, during a winter season, by Captain 
A. W. Gloster, the then Chief Engineer of the 
Kansas City, Wyandotte and North-western 
Railroad. 

My stay in this State was of such short 
duration that I have nothing to relate of an en- 
gineering experience. 

I had heard so much of the great and grow- 
ing State of Kansas — its climate, productive- 
ness, varied industries, its many churches and 
school-houses, and the general intelligence of 
its people — that I was prepared to see some- 
thing that I had never seen before ; and I did 
see it, but not as Emigration Agents had ad- 
vertised it. 

The thermometer, on the day of my arrival, 
registered twenty-eight degrees below zero, 
and so continued, with no material variation, 
so far as comfort was concerned, for several 
months ; while the wind blew with almost hur" 
ricane velocity. This is one beauty of the cli- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 09 

mate. I left in the springtime, and therefore 
missed a delicious summering in that mild lati- 
tude. I am told that it is blissfully inviting at 
that season of the year. 

When the topmost thermometrical gradua- 
tion is almost reached, and you are sweltering 
under a red-hot sun, and thirsting for water, 
there comes along a gentle breeze which, in 
other states, brings cooling comfort and re- 
freshment ; but this is a Kansas breeze — and it 
burns and parches you. 

The United States Census averages its corn 
production at thirty bushels per acre. A ne- 
gro's mule would laugh at the task of making 
such a crop in the Mississippi or Louisiana 
bottoms. Its industries are not comparable to 
those of Georgia, or even Alabama. But, as 
to the number of its churches and school- 
houses, it is bountifully supplied — and it needs 
them. It has more religious denominations, 
so-called, than any other two states. You can 
see a school-house on nearly every square mile, 
but, withal this, the general knowledge and in- 
telligence of the state that, only recently, the 
Kansas Legislature wanted Congress to put 
under martial law — Arkansas — is far beyond 
the people of Kansas who claim so many edu- 
cational aids and privileges. Of the masses, it 
may be said, that their ignorance borders on 



i io Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

stupidity, and their bigotry and intolerance are 
of the most sickening order. 

I have said, in the beginning of this book, 
" Occasion will be taken, in the course of these 
pages, to particularize some of the results al- 
luded to," etc. Subsequent reflection, how- 
ever, has concluded me to go back on the 
promise, as, in attempting to fulfill it, in its 
original intent, I should be obliged to mention 
names — for the owners of which, in their per- 
sonal capacity, I have high respect — and what- 
ever may be my estimate of their professional 
worth, is a matter of no concern to the general 
public ; and, while refraining from such publi- 
cation, I will be adhering to that ethical code 
of the fraternity, which should not be disre- 
garded. . 

I will, however, say this much, that the 
proper adaptability of means at hand never 
fails of legitimately corresponding results. 
This is not only true of mathematics, but may 
be asserted of the various commercial and 
practical enterprises of the world. 

The right use of the means is the determin- 
ing factor in producing beneficial results. The 
Engineer having charge of the building of an 
important line of several hundred miles of rail- 
road may be backed with ample capital to en- 



Life and Times- of a Civil Engineer. 1 1 1 

able him to construct the road ; and this may 
be done regardless of economy in location and 
construction, while another have so little of 
pecuniary backing as to prevent the employ- 
ment even of the field assistants, demanded by 
the convenience and necessities of the surveys 
(and made distressingly: anxious concerning 
the payment of his own small salary), yet gives 
due consideration to every surveying item', and 
from it determines a location on true engineer- 
ing principles. 

The writer has no hesitancy in proclaiming 
that the contracted engineering as indicated in 
the above paragraph had its practical counter- 
part in the location of an important line of rail- 
road with which he was connected, and his 
suggested but rejected plans have been ap- 
proved by many Civil Engineers of unques- 
tionable competency. 

The results alluded to are conspicuously ex- 
posed on every hand, and the practical eye 
finds no difficulty in discerning them. 

In concluding this short narration of the 
" Life and Times," I think it a duty I owe to 
the many comrades who have faithfully toiled 
along the hard road of "out-door" Engineer- 
ing, and to the profession at Targe, to protest 
against the money estimate of their services. 



112 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

While it must be admitted that, as a science, 
there is none of higher rank than that of Civil 
Engineering ; and that, to an attainment even 
of such elements as will enable the Engineer 
to comprehend its simplest works, years of 
mental, and, in most cases, physical labor of 
the most arduous character, are required, it can 
not be denied that, of all professions, it is the 
most poorly paid. This undervaluing of such 
service was begun, and is now continued, by 
those of the profession occupying more or less 
high positions. The salary of competent- field 
Engineers ranges from sixty to one hundred 
dollars per month ; many of them more thor- 
oughly acquainted with the work they have to 
do than the one who thinks it labor merely to 
sign their papers ; and yet the latter is paid by 
the thousand per month. 

Why do n't these small salaried fellows climb 
to the top rung of the ladder ? Because money 
and influential circumstances, uncoupled with 
true merit, push so many up that ladder that 
the worthy ones can only look up. 



THE TRUE THEORY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

RIVER. 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 15 



THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



There are 40,000 square miles of Delta lands, 
The areas drained by the tributaries of the 

Mississippi river : 

Sq. Miles. 

The area drained by the tributaries of the Mis- 
souri river 519,400 

The area drained by the tributaries of the Ohio 

river ,< 202,400 

The area drained by the Upper Mississippi river, 
including all the tributaries which come in on 
the east above the mouth of the Ohio, and on 
the west above the mouth of the Missouri 184,500 

The area drained by the Arkansas and its tribu- 
taries, including White river 176,700 

The area drained by the Red river and its tribu- 
taries 102,200 

The area drained by the Yazoo, and all other 
tributaries coming into the Mississippi, on the 
east side, between mouth of Ohio and mouth 
of Red river 29,300 

The area drained by the St. Francis, embracing 
the territory lying between its waters and the 
Mississippi 12, 100 



Total area drained above the mouth of Red river. .1,226,600 

Reduced to feet, the total area of the Missis- 
sippi Valley is 34,195,645,440,100 square feet. 



1 1 6 Life and Times of a Civil E7igineer. 

Assuming the annual downfall of rain over 
this immense area to be forty inches, we have, 
as a result, 113,985,484,800,333 cubic feet. 

Investigation of the discharge below Red 
river, and its great natural outlet, the Atcha- 
falaya, during sixty days of the high water in 
the spring of 185 1, was 6,225,000,000,000 
cubic feet, or at the average rate of 103,750,- 
000,000 cubic feet per diem. 

The actual drainage below Red river, during 
sixty days of the high water of 1851, was, 
therefore, very nearly the eighteenth part of the 
total annual downfall over the whole area of 
the Mississippi Valley. 

The value of the drainage during these 
sixty days, reduced to inches, is 2^^. 

Now let it be supposed, that, from any cause 
as to the tillage of the prairies, the destruction 
of the vegetable growth, or the better drain- 
age of the fields, out of the forty inches of rain 
which falls, two-fiftJis of an inch, or nearly one 
per cent of the whole, should be discharged into 
the Mississippi in the course of these sixty 
days of flood, over and above the present 
average discharge. If this slight increase of 
the total discharge were distributed . uniformly 
over the whole period of sixty days of high 
water, it would require that the channel of the 
river should be competent to give vent to an in- 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 1 7 

creased volume equal to 220,000 cubic feet per 
second ; and the result would be an increased 
elevation of high water of six feet. This con- 
clusion is derived from an approximate deter- 
mination of the increased height of a flood, due 
to any given increase in the volume discharged, 
when the general dimensions and slope of the 
river are given.. 

The average depth of the river at high water 
of 1850, in mid-channel way, from Vicksburg 
to New Orleans, was one hundred and fifteen 
feet, while the area of high water section from 
Vicksburg to Donaldsonville was 215,200 
square feet. 

The general slope, at high water, between 
Red river and Donaldsonville, being" taken at 
twenty-five hundredths of a foot per mile, the 
working of the accepted formula, for the de- 
termination of mean current velocity, shows 
4,584 feet per second, and a discharge of 
985,560 cubic feet per second. 

But if the surface should rise twelve inches 
higher, in consequence of an increased supply 
of water, the depth would become 1 16 feet, the 
slope about tVi/V feet, and the area of the 
average section would be increased to 218,300 
square feet. The working of these new ele- 
ments gives an increased discharge of 1,015,- 
640 cubic feet per second. This shows that 



1 1 8 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

the average volume which must be supplied to 
the channel, when in full flood, in order to raise 
the surface one foot, to be 30,080 cubic feet. 

The average volume of 35,000 cubic feet per 
second has been assumed as a result applica- 
ble to the general or average dimensions of 
the Lower Mississippi. No rule can be given 
which will apply to every position ; for the 
width, depth, and area of the stream are most 
variable ; and as the same volume of water 
must pass through different sections, its veloc- 
ity, both surface and mean, must be subject to 
continual change. 

A great flood is the result of a simultane- 
ous discharge of the great tributaries, which 
usually run off successively. 

The high water produced by the Red and 
Arkansas rivers, in the ordinary course of 
things, has begun to subside before that of the 
Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee comes 
down ; and these, again, begin to recede be- 
fore the Mississippi discharges its volume ; and 
this, in its turn, subsides before the snows of 
the Rocky Mountains, which swell the northern 
tributaries of the Missouri, are melted by the 
tardy sun in those high latitudes, and the wa- 
ter has had time to flow through the three 
thousand miles of channel intervening between 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 1 9 

the sources of the distant streams and the 
head of the delta. 

It is a part of the natural order of events 
that these great rivers shall discharge suc- 
cessively. But there were, doubtless, in former 
ages, as now, exceptions to this natural rule ; 
and a meeting of the flood-waters of distant 
tributaries may have occurred many a time in 
the course of the tens of thousands of years 
which have witnessed the formation of the 
delta. Such things may occur hereafter, and 
greater floods than have yet been seen by 
men may be felt along the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi. 

The floods which now carry annual distress 
and destruction into the Lower Mississippi, 
are the result of artificial causes. The water 
is supplied by nature, but its height is increased 
by the works of men. The prominent cause is 
the extension of the levees. 

The Mississippi has been accustomed to find 
vent for its surplus waters in the vast swamps 
which are to be found along the valleys of Red 
river, the Arkansas, White river, the Yazoo, 
and the St. Francis ; and to the right and left 
of its proper course, almost the entire distance 
from Cape Girardeau to the Belize. 

In the progress of the levees no regard has 
been paid to those bayous, or natural outlets, 



1 20 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

through which the Mississippi, in its unre- 
strained condition, vented, as it rose, a large 
portion of its surplus water. 

The numerous channels through which the 
rising floods were safely discharged into the 
swamps, with few exceptions, have been all 
stopped by the extension of the levees across 
their mouths, consequently that portion of the 
flood which these openings allowed to pass into 
the great reservoirs of the delta, has been ex- 
cluded from them, and is now forced, when the 
levees stand firm, to flow between the artificial 
banks down the main channel of the river. 

It will be readily perceived how this com- 
pression of that surplus water which, in the 
original condition of the stream, spread over a 
width of fifty or one hundred miles of inun- 
dated country, within a channel of half a mile 
in breadth, will cause the flood to rise higher. 

Shall the river be restored to its original 
condition by reopening the closed outlets, and 
again allowing the water to pass out through 
its natural vents ? This is now wholly im- 
practicable. The bayous are all types of the 
Mississippi itself. They originally received 
their supply from the river, and, in extreme 
floods, were subject, like the river, to overflow 
their borders. Naturally, as on the main river, 
these overflows left their deposits. To open 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 2 1 

all these bayou outlets would lead to certain 
and immediate destruction of great interests. 

What will be the effect of the levee system 
above when it shall be prosecuted to such an 
extent as to fill up all the gaps above Red 
river ? 

That we may have a more definite idea of 
the consequences that will result from the ex- 
clusion of the water from a given portion of 
the swamps, and confining the volume so ex- 
cluded to the channel of the river, when the 
Mississippi has already overflowed its banks, 
and is pressing on the levees, let's figure some 
more. 

It has been stated that the swamp lands of 
the delta are supposed to cover about 40,000 
square miles. But if we confine our attention 
to that portion of this area which is found 
above the mouth of the Red river, we may es- 
timate its length, northwardly, at four hundred 
miles, and its average breadth at about sixty- 
five miles, dimensions which give for the total 
area of inundated lands north of Red river, 
26,000 square miles. 

If we assume that the water over the whole 
of this area is excluded from the swamps to a 
sufficient extent to reduce the depth of over- 
flow only twelve inches, we shall have for the 
additional volume which, by that process, will 



122 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

be forced into the river, and which must, there- 
fore, be carried off by the channel. 

26,000X5, 28o 2 = 724,838,400,000 cubic feet. 

This additional volume must be discharged 
through the channel of the river in the ordi- 
nary period of high water, which is assumed to 
be .sixty days. The increased discharge 
through the channel due to this cause, will 
then be 

12,080,640,000 cubic feet per diem, and, conse- 
quently, 139,822 cubic feet per second. 

This is about the one-seventh part of the ac- 
tual high-water discharge of the Mississippi 
below Red river, as previously shown. 

But, it having been shown that if only 
35,000 cubic feet per second were added to the 
high- water discharge, the surface would be 
raised at or above Plaquemine fully one foot, 
it follows that by reducing the depth of over- 
flow throughout the swamps above Red river 
only one foot, the high-water surface below 
Red river will be raised nearly four feet for a 
period of sixty days. 

•In the above calculation, it has been assumed 
that the depth of overflow, prevented by the 
levees, is but twelve inches. From the best 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 1 2 







data obtainable, it is estimated that five feet is 
about a fair average for the depth of the inun- 
dation, distributed over the total area north of 
Red river, which is subject to overflow. It 
follows, therefore, that whenever the levees are 
made to stand firm and exclude all the water 
from the swamps, the quantity so excluded 
will be equal to five times that above obtained, 
or sufficient to require an increase of discharge 
through the channel, of 699,110 cubic feet per 
second, kept up for a period of sixty consecu- 
tive days. 

The actual discharge of the Mississippi in 
extreme high water, in 1851, below Red river, 
was 1,134,000 cubic feet per second. It fol- 
lows, therefore, that to fill up the computed 
area of the swamps which are found above the 
mouth of Red river, to an average depth of 
five feet, will require a supply from the over- 
flow of the river equal to 700,000 cubic feet 
per second for a period of sixty days, or equal 
to the total high water discharge of the Missis- 
sippi for a period of thirty-seven days. 

In other words, if all the water which passes 
through the channel of the Mississippi below 
the mouth of Red river, when at its highest 
point, were discharged into the swamps above 
Red river, it would require a period of about 
thirty-seven days to fill up all those swamps 



124 Life a?id Times of a Civil Engineer. 

to an. average depth of five feet. And, there- 
fore, on the other hand, if that portion of the 
Mississippi floods which is absorbed in filling 
up the swamps, were entirely excluded from 
the swamps, by a system of substantial levees, 
and forced into the channel — when an increase 
of 35,000 cubic feet per second will cause an 
increased elevation of surface of about one 
foot — the 700,000 cubic feet per second, so ex- 
cluded, would raise the surface about fifteen 
feet above the present high water marks. 

Let it be conceded that the abrasive force 
increases with the volume of water transported, 
and that the channel is enlarged as the abrasive 
force is augmented. The scouring force of 
the river can not be increased until after the 
surface has been raised ; and, therefore, after 
the damage from overflow has been done. 
When the bottom will be washed ont deep enough, 
and the banks will have caved in far enough to 
accommodate the total drainage of the Missis- 
sippi Valley, is beyond the prescience of science, 
or the light of experience, to foreshow. 

When the volume discharged by the river is 
increased, the channel will, no doubt, undergo 
a gradual enlargement ; but more than a thou- 
sand miles of material must be excavated and 
transported, re-deposited, re-excavated, and 
again transported many hundred times ; and 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 125 

there is no reason to doubt that hundreds, and, 
perhaps, thousands of years will be required 
to accomplish, by the levee system, the re- 
clamation of the Mississippi delta lands from 
overflow. 

It is contended that the construction of 
levees in the upper part of the river can not 
increase the floods essentially below, for the 
reason that the channel below is larger than 
that above, and can, therefore, vent between 
levees all the water that can be brought down 
between any new levee which may be built 
above. 

There are portions in the upper divisions 
of the Mississippi which are much larger than 
other portions below the Yazoo. The Missis- 
sippi, when in flood, discharges more water im- 
mediately beloiv the mouth of the Ohio than it 
does at a7iy point in the neigJiborhood of Red 
river. 

It is said that the water which is now dis- 
charged into the swamps above, passes through 
those swamps and reappears at their outlets, 
and aids in swelling the flood in the river 
below. But this is at war with the facts. The 
flood in the river travels faster than the flood 
in the swamps ; and the highest rise at the 
mouth of the St. Francis is not produced by 
the water of overflow which entered those 



126 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

swamps above and is drained off by the St. 
Francis ; nor that at the mouth of the Yazoo 
by the water which is drawn through the 
swamps of the Yazoo ; nor that at the mouth 
of Red river by that which is discharged by the 
Cocodrie and the Tensas. The floods of the 
Mississippi are produced by water which does 
not go into the swamps at all, but which de- 
scends through the main channel of the river, 
aided by the discharge received from the 
tributaries on the way. The height of the 
flood at any point depends on the volume that 
is brought down by the river and its tribu- 
taries, and not by the discharge from the 
swamps. But, after the river has attained its 
height, the supply is kept up, and the duration 
of the flood prolonged, by the subsequent dis- 
charge from the swamps. 

It is not unreasonable to assume, that if it 
be in the power of the government to so 
control the waters as to add to the height and 
violence of the river, it will be equally within 
its power to reduce its force and moderate 
its velocity ; and that, too, without impairing 
its navigable channel way. 

The total steam power engaged in navigat- 
ing the Mississippi and its tributaries is about 
equal to 600,000 horses ; adequate to the lift- 
ing of all the water discharged by the river 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 127 

and its outlets, at the moment when this dis- 
charge is greatest, as fast as it comes down, 
to a height of four feet. It is evident that 
these floods can be restrained by mere mus- 
cular strength, by steam power, by a dead lift, 
and without the aid of any resources which are 
supplied by art and experience. But great 
volumes of the Mississippi floods may be dis- 
charged directly into the sea, by merely remov-. 
ing a portion of the artificial embankments 
which now confine them to the river, while the 
floods may be controlled by retaining a portion 
of the waters in the valleys above. 

Right here we are met with the objection, 
that the river will be shoaled below the site 
of the outlet. The Mississippi and its natural 
outlets are now greatly overburdened in times 
of extreme high-water, and are unable to vent 
the volume which is forced into them by the 
distant tributaries as fast as it is brought down. 
This excess of water finds new outlets by over- 
flowing the natural banks, or through crevasses 
in the artificial levees. Outlets then, acting only 
as high-water vents, through which this surplus 
water may be let off, can not possibly dimin- 
ish the actual area of the river's section be- 
low; for such outlets will discharge water 
which does not pass through the channel at 
all. The water which injures the country is 



128 Life arid Times of a Civil Engineer. 

not that which descends between the natural 
banks, or even that larger quantity which now 
descends between the levees of the Mississippi, 
but is precisely that which, after the levees 
have given way, leaves the river and spreads 
over the cultivated fields. This portion, there- 
fore, may be discharged through the artificial 
openings leading to the sea, without affecting 
the area of the channel below ; for it does 
not now, and never did, flow through the 
channel, and can have, therefore, no influence 
whatever on its condition. 

In consequence of the extension of the levees 
above, the volume discharged by the floods of 
the Lower Mississippi will be annually in- 
creased. 

In opening outlets below Red river sufficient 
to give passage to this increased supply as it 
comes, the efficiency of the channel can not 
possibly be impaired, for this increased dis- 
charge has had no part in the creation or 
maintenance of the present channel. 

To the extent then, in the first place, of dis- 
charging the waters of overflow, or the crevasse 
water ; and to the further extent of providing 
for the increased discharge which the new 
levees will occasion, artificial outlets may be 
employed without the least apprehension that 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 129 

the present area of the river will be diminished 
by success. 

About eleven miles below the city of New 
Orleans, and one hundred above its mouth, 
the Mississippi approaches within five miles of 
the Gulf of Mexico. The ground between the 
river and the gulf, here known as Lake Borgne, 
is a plane sloping from the river back to the 
sea. The first three thousand feet from the 
river is cleared and highly cultivated land ; but 
the residue of the distance is swamp, always 
wet, and sometimes completely overflowed by 
the high water of the gulf. 

When the Mississippi is in flood, its surface 
stands six feet above the level of the adjacent 
soil, and at this point the levee is about six feet 
high. 

At the distance of half a mile back from the 
levee, the surface of the- ground is 9^ feet be- 
low the high-water surface of the river. At 
the distance of a mile, it is 10^2 feet, and so 
continues, almost a perfect level from that 
point back to the borders of the lake, where 
the surface of the swamp or prairie is 10^ feet 
below the high water of the Mississippi, as it 
stood in April, 1851. 

The average fall of the surface, from the 
river back to the level of the gulf, was found 
to be 2} feet per mile. The velocity of the 



130 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

surface current would be 5 feet per second (if 
the opening were made suddenly). If the levee 
were removed along a space of 5,000 lineal 
feet, the area of the outflowing column would 
be 52,500 square feet, and the discharge, con- 
sequently, about 210,000 cubic feet per 
second. 

It is reasonable to suppose that it would be 
practicable to form a vent at this point that 
would in a short time obtain an average depth 
nearly or quite equal to the difference between 
the high-water level of the river and the bot- 
tom of Lake Borgne near the shore, or about 
14 feet, and that such an outlet would produce 
a reduction of the surface of the Mississippi 
at high-water, of not less than four feet, suffi- 
cient to secure the protection of New Orleans 
and the whole coast below the city ; and to 
some considerable distance above, for a very 
long period. 

All the water that is drawn off at this point, 
and all the reduction of surface that can be ef- 
fected by this outlet will be productive of good. 
There is here no interest to be injured but 
that of the few individual proprietors whose 
estates would have to be appropriated, and to 
whom, of course, compensation would have to 
be made. 

As to increasing the bars at the mouths of 



• Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 131 

the Mississippi by the withdrawal of a large 
volume of water from any part of the channel, 
it was clearly shown in a report to the War 
Department, by Mr. Ellet, that these bars are 
not produced by the destruction of the velocity 
of the river, where the fresh water meets 
the sea, but by the refluent under-current \ 
which is set in motion by the outpouring floods 
of the Mississippi. That the bars at the em- 
bouchures of the passes, can not be reduced in 
height by increasing the velocity of the river 
over them, and will not be increased in height 
by reducing the velocity. On the contrary, if 
the river could be made to discharge a large 
portion of its burden by some other channel, 
the depth upon the bars would be increased by 
the action of the sea, which would then set 
higher up, and if the river could be turned off 
entirely, and let into Lake Borgne, the bars 
which are thrown out by the Mississippi, and 
maintained in the deep water of the gulf by 
its power, would be swept off by the waves, 
when a heavy sea would set into the mouth of 
the river, unresisted by a descending flood. 

The Bayou Plaquemine should be enlarged, 
and the x^tchafalaya should be made the drain- 
age course for the waters of Red river. Next 
to the Lake Borgne outlet, the Atchafalaya 
would be the most important, because it would 



132 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

draw off the waters at the highest accessible 
point on the river. 

I have quoted, at some length, from Charles 
Ellet, one of the most scientific, practical and 
distinguished civil engineers of his day. The 
above extracts, from his great work on the 
Mississippi river — published in 1853 — are es- 
sentially verbatim ; and it is right that they 
should be so made, as no one has ever more 
intelligently investigated the Great River prob- 
lem, or published views respecting it, more lu- 
cidly or more logically. 

The book is commended to those who rely 
on the levee or jetty system alone for the re- 
clamation of the delta lands from overflow. 

Mr. Ellet does not attack the levee system. 
It is one of the means that must be used, in 
connection with the outlets, for a partial pres- 
ervation of the low lands from inundation by 
the floods of the river. 

I quote further from this eminent engineer, 
who, after suggesting various plans necessary 
to be adopted, concludes as follows : 

" But, while recommending these prompt 
and vigorous measures, it is the duty of the 
writer to express his conviction that, after all 
these means of relief — carried as far as pru- 
dence and a proper regard to economy and the 
interests upon which this excess of water will 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 133 

be turned — have been exhausted, they will be 
found insufficient to secure even the State of 
Louisiana against the floods which, at no dis- 
tant day, will be poured down the Mississippi ; 
while the great area, subject to inundation, in 
the States of Arkansas and Mississippi, can 
receive no sensible relief from any of these ex- 
pedients but that of levees. 

" To secure the whole delta it will be necessary" 
to commence promptly and press vigorously the 
great work of retaining the water in the mount- 
ains. 

" We come then to the question which is to 
be decided by the enterprising men and reflect- 
ing minds destined hereafter to cope with this 
vast subject. Shall the upper states go on to 
construct their levees, and raise them higher 
and higher, as the water is found to rise in con- 
sequence of their construction — endeavoring to 
overco7ne by levees the difficulties mainly produced 
by levees — doing work, daily, which will inevit- 
ably lead to the necessity of more work to 
render that work secure — or shall they begin 
to adopt, in connection with that which pro- 
duces so much incidental damage, a system of 
protection which, at every step, will do some 
good service to every interest ? Shall it con- 
tinue to be the policy — the favored and exclu- 
sive policy — to make whole provinces and 



134 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

counties depend for their salvation on the per- 
fection of every part of several hundred miles 
of embankment ; and to force every individual 
to seek to protect himself against the efforts 
of every interest above him? Shall this sys- 
tem continue until the artificial banks of the 
Mississppi shall rise in height with those of the 
Po, and the populations in the low lands, be- 
hind the intrenchments, along a coast of more 
than a thousand miles, shall be in hourly 
dread of crevasses of which the force will then 
be irresistible ? In short, shall the aid of Con- 
gress continue to be invoked, and the legisla- 
tion of states to be directed, to the indefinite 
prosecution of a scheme which adds to the 
present distress at every step of its progress, 
when the same results may be ultimately ob- 
tained by a process which harmonises every in- 
terest and does good to all, which will, at the 
same time, protect the entire coasts of the Mis- 
sissippi and the banks of its tributaries ; re- 
claim the swamps of the whole delta, and im- 
prove the navigation of every river of which 
the floods are received by the Mississippi. 

" But it may be asked when is this work to 
be commenced, and how is it to be prosecuted, 
to accomplish visible results over a field so im- 
mense, in any reasonable time ? The public 
mind has yet to be convinced that it is even 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 135 

practicable to retain a sufficient volume of wa- 
ter in the mountains to reduce the floods in 
the Mississippi any sensible amount. It has, 
it may be added, yet even to be persuaded to 
reflect upon the practicability of the sugges- 
tion. In the view of those accustomed to ad- 
vocate and conduct difficult enterprises, it is 
precisely the persuasion and conviction of the 
public mind of the feasibility of a measure, 
that constitutes its difficulty. When men re- 
flect on any thing which has a solid basis of 
truth, they have arrived near the point of con- 
viction. 

"It is not difficult to show that, to reduce 
the floods of the Mississippi one foot, we must 
draw off, or retain in reservoirs, about 20,000,- 
000,000 cubic feet per week ; and that, to re- 
tain this volume, will require a reservoir 1 10 
feet deep and covering seven square miles. 
Consequently it would not be difficult to show, 
that, to reduce the floods twelve inches for a 
space of sixty tlays, would require that nine 
such reservoirs should be applied to that pur- 
pose. It would not be difficult to show that 
these reservoirs would retain water enough to 
maintain the navigation of as many of the 
most valuable rivers that flow into the Missis- 
sippi from the east ; but, to bring the proof in 
detail, will require surveys ; and to obtain such 



136 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

surveys, will require the confidence and action 
of Congress. 

" But when the minds of men are directed 
to the fact that floods are increased by the de- 
struction of the natural reservoirs of the delta, 
it will not, perhaps, be difficult for them to ap- 
preciate that they may also be reduced by the 
creation of artificial and better reservoirs to re- 
place those that are destroyed. 

Under the operation of the causes which 
have been explained, the course of nature has 
been disturbed, and floods once regarded as 
exceptions to the usual order of things, are 
now of almost annual occurrence. Under the 
operation of human agency, and nothing else, 
the waters have been and are still being di- 
verted from their course, and concentrated in 
the great rivers ; and it is now proposed to 
counteract the hurtful effects of this diversion, 
by works of art, calculated first to restore, and 
ultimately to improve, the natural regimen of 
streams. 

It is proposed, in short, to construct new 
reservoirs to receive the increased drainage 
produced by the plow, and to compensate for 
those reservoirs which have been and are 
about to be destroyed by the spade ; to sub- 
stitute for the swamps, which have already re- 
ceived the water oi overflow, capacious lakes 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 137 

in the rock-bound valleys of the Allegany 
and Rocky Mountains. It would seem to be 
useless to demonstrate that such reservoirs 
will be cheaper and more efficient than the 
reservoir which has been formed by the river 
itself, by the levees, and which can only be 
made secure, by the maintenance of from two 
to three thousand miles of embankment, reared 
on a soil always liable to slip and to be under- 
mined by the action of the pent-up water. 

"Every effort should be made, while new 
vents are being opened and guard levees con- 
structed below, to retain the surplus water in 
the lakes at the sources of the Mississippi and 
Missouri, and along the course of Red river ; 
while proper sites for reservoirs should be 
sought in all the appropriate valleys of the 
Alleghany, and ultimately those of the Rocky 
Mountains. Surveys should be promptly insti- 
tuted at the sources of the Monongahela, Alle- 
ghany, Kanawha, Cumberland, and Tennessee, 
and other tributaries of the Ohio, for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining the most advantageous 
sites for great reservoirs that will discharge 
through their respective channels. That, in 
the selection of these sites, regard be had pri- 
marily to the supplying of the Ohio and the 
greatest of its navigable tributaries with water 
in the summer months; using the reservoirs 



138 Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 

for the double purpose of withholding the 
flood-water from the Mississippi when that 
river is overflowing its banks, and supplying 
the water so withheld to the Ohio itself, and 
its navigable arms, when their navigation is 
impeded by droughts. 

"That these surveys be extended promptly 
to Red river and its tributaries, for the twofold 
purpose of applying the great lakes with which 
that valley abounds to keeping back the 
floods, and relieving summer navigation from 
obstruction, by allowing the surplus so retained 
to pass down in the season of low water. The 
lakes in the valley of Red river may be turned 
to good account in the prosecution of this 
plan ; and the valleys of its tributary streams 
are understood to afford remarkable opportun- 
ities for the creation of great artificial reser- 
voirs. 

"The flood of 1849, by the destruction of 
the cotton crop of Red river alone, was pro- 
ductive of damage to the amount of five or six 
millions of dollars, while less than half of this 
sum would probably have sufficed to create 
reservoirs sufficient for the permanent protec- 
tion of all its valley, and the great relief of the 
Mississippi delta from the mouth of Red river 
to the sea. 

" It is recommended that attention be first 



Life and Times of a Civil Engineer. 139 

given to the control of the great navigable 
tributaries which pass through the most highly 
cultivated portions of the valley of the Missis- 
sippi, because on these a double service can be 
performed — the navigation can be improved 
while the floods are arrested. But it is to be 
recollected that, while this motive prompts us 
to look to the distant arms, it is particularly 
those streams which, like the Washita and the 
Cumberland, discharge' nearest the point of 
suffering, that add most injuriously to the 
height of the floods of the Mississippi. 

" It is not at all necessary to keep watch 
upon the reservoirs to see that they perform 
properly. It is perfectly practicable so to ad- 
just their apertures that they may discharge 
constantly and almost uniformly ; filling up 
when the flood comes down and the supply is 
in excess, and falling again when the sources 
of supply begin to fail. The system, when 
fully carried out, will be almost self-regulating." 



3/ 



~^ 







